Abstract

SOLANO, Diego Armando; ALVAREZ-HERRERA, Javier Giovanni  and  RODRIGUEZ, Jorge Arturo. Spatial distribution of Brevipalpus phoenicis vector of citrus leprosis virus in Valencia orange (Citrus sinensis) crop in Yopal, Casanare (Colombia). Agron. colomb. [online]. 2008, vol.26, n.3, pp.399-410. ISSN 0120-9965.

Citrus is an important line in Colombian agriculture since it generates close to fifty thousand jobs. Brevipalpus phoenicis is catalogued as the main vector of the citrus leprosies virus, a viral disease that causes losses of sixty million dollars a year in Brazil. In Colombia, the disease was reported by the ICA in the departments of Meta and Casanare. With the objective to determine the spatial distribution of the vector of the leprosis, a weekly sampling of B. phoenicis was made during the months of February through April (12 samplings at a time) in 2006 in a Valencia orange tree at two levels (0 to 1.5 m and 1.5 to 2.5 m of height). The data was analyzed with a geostatistical methodology with Surfer 8 software (Golden Software, 1997- 2007) to determine the space distribution of the acarus. As a result 36 experimental variograms and 36 maps of spatial distribution were obtained during the study period. The acarus showed an inversely proportional behavior to precipitation; when rains began its population diminished. Also the acarus showed a displacement from the most humid layer of the tree towards driest, which implies that the behavior of the acarus is dependent as much on the relative humidity as precipitation. The distribution pattern of the acarus was fitted to a linear model and the tendency of the vector was determined towards the driest side.

Keywords : geostatistics; virus; Kriging; variogram; maps.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )