Ordu University continues to carry out scientific studies for the development and improvement of agricultural products grown in the region. In this context, the project aiming to control developed by Faculty of Agriculture Department of Plant Protection faculty member Assoc. Dr. Rana Akyazı and encountered in increasing strawberry production in Ordu the strawberry pest named "P.p. fragariae” was accepted by TÜBİTAK.

Within the scope of the project, which was entitled to receive TÜBİTAK 1001 support, the project team started to investigate the methods of controlling the strawberry pest, which has the potential to cause 22 percent to 100 percent yield loss in strawberries. Project manager Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rana Akyazı stated that changes were observed in the form of the strawberry plant at the first stage of the pest infestation and said, “In the first stages of contamination, it causes a misshapen, curled and stunted appearance on young leaves. Later, dwarf-looking plants with brown fragile leaves are formed. The pest species can also cause damage up to the death of the whole plant, with the formation of deformed, small fruit, which turns brown under the sepals, has large seeds that stand out from the flesh, drying of the flowers, loss of quality and quantity in the product, and the death of the whole plant.

Aiming to Control Strawberry Pest with Environmentally Friendly Methods

It was thought that nature-friendly control methods should be given priority as an alternative method to chemical control methods at the point of controlling the strawberry pest, which has the potential to reduce yield in strawberry production. For this purpose, within the scope of the study, it was stated that the effectiveness of the domestic predator mite species, which was detected in strawberry fields in the Ordu region and was successful in mass production, in greenhouse conditions was investigated.

In the researches, it was observed that the predatory mite species detected on different strawberry varieties widely grown in the region were effective in greenhouse conditions. Therefore, the predatory mites used in the study were P. p. fragariae mite has been shown to reduce the density, especially as effective as chemical drugs.