Research progress in integrated management of Agrilus mali

Agrilus mali Matsumura,one of the most destructive trunk borers in fruit trees,is listed as a quarantine pest in China and a highly dangerous forest insect as well.It has caused severe damages to wild fruit forests in Xinjiang in the past 20 years,where Malus sieversii is the dominant species.The wild forests are known as rare and natural germplasm resources for China's economic forest industry.A.mali,spreading quickly in the wild fruit forests,can inflict serious damage to fruit trees by tunneling under bark during its long larval period.The control efficiency has been poor for the methods such as painting insecticides in damaged bark areas,and trunk injection and spraying of insecticides.However,the parasitoids Sclerodermus pupariae and Atanycolus denigrator,and parasitic mites(Pyemotes sp.)proved to be effective in controlling A.mali to a certain degree.The focus of future research should be on developing an integrated management strategy,where approaches like breeding and releasing parasitoids,utilizing secondary metabolites of host plants,disrupting insect behaviors and mass-trapping with insect pheromones will play important roles.