Efficacy of Aloe vera extract on the growth of Schefflera arboricola plants and its resistance to pyriform scale Protopulvinaria pyriformis (Cockerell).

During the seasons of 2021 and 2022, two studies were conducted at Antoniades Research Branch, Horticulture Research Institute, A.R.C. Alexandria. The first study was conducted to investigate the effect of different doses of the extract of Aloe vera leaves on the growth of Schefflera arboricola. The extract was prepared at six concentrations (0.0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%) and sprayed on schefflera plants. The plants were treated eight times (two-week apart).The results showed that spraying schefflera plants with the Aloe vera leaves extract at 60% resulted in the greatest increase in all evaluated vegetative, root development parameters, and chemical analyses, in both experimental seasons. The other study was conducted to evaluate the ability of using the extract of Aloe vera leaves at the same proportions to suppress the infestation of the pyriform scale Protopulvinaria pyriformis (Cockerell), which infects schefflera plants. Malthion 2ml/L and the extract of Aloe vera leaves at the same concentrations were sprayed on the infected plants. The results showed that using of Malathion at 2ml/L resulted in the greatest percentage reduction of pyriform scale, followed by the use of Aloe vera extract at 100%.