The Effects of Loquat-Pepper Adjacent Planting on Insect Community and Aphis gossypii in Zanthoxylum bungeanum Garden

To make sure the effect of pepper (Zanthoxylum bungeanum) planted adjacent to loquat Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) L. on insect community and Aphis gossypii, the component and the structure dynamic of insect community and the A. gossypii population were studied in this research. With the character indices, the insect community and A. gossypii population were compared and analyzed between loquat-pepper adjacent planting garden and pepper mono-planting garden in Yongshan County, Zhaotong City,Yunnan Province. The results showed that there were 2 163 insects (including spiders) belonging to 10 orders and 175 species insects were found in loquat-pepper adjacent planting garden. There were 2 381 insects (including spiders) belonging to 8 orders and 148 species were found in pepper mono-planting garden. The proportion of the number of individual and species of phytophagy, the superiority concentric and dominance indices were lower in loquat-pepper adjacent planting garden than those in pepper mono-planting garden. Meanwhile, the number of A. gossypii population was remarkably less in loquat-pepper adjacent planting garden than in pepper mono-planting garden. On the contrary, the proportion of the number of individual and species of predator, richness, diversity and evenness indices of insect community were higher in loquat-pepper adjacent planting garden than those in pepper mono-planting garden. Therefore, it can be concluded that pepper planted adjacent to loquat has definite inhibition effect on the numbers of A.gossypii.