Thrips Abundance and Damage on Avocado Cultivars in South Africa

A study evaluating the association between plant quality and thrips damage in avocado orchards. The dataset includes measurements of soil texture, leaf and sap nutrients, tree characteristics, and thrips abundance across four cultivars in the Levubu region of South Africa. It was authored by Ndalama Mashava and last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Predicting thrips abundance based on leaf and soil nutrient levels mentioned in the description.
• Comparing pest susceptibility and fruit drop rates across different avocado cultivars.
• Analyzing shifts in thrips species composition between flowering and early fruit development stages.
• Modeling the relationship between specific nutrients like sodium, copper, sugar, and sulfur with pest abundance.

Strengths

• Includes data on four distinct avocado cultivars (Hass, Fuerte, Maluma, Pinkerton).
• Provides specific findings on pest composition, such as Scirtothrips aurantii making up 72-96% of samples.
• Links multiple data types: soil nutrients, leaf nutrients, sap elements, tree measurements, and pest counts.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is very small (26.3 KB), indicating a limited scope of observations.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Ndalama Mashava.

Collection Method

Field samples collected from avocado orchards, with measurements of soil, leaves, sap, tree characteristics, and thrips.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 10:20:47; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Levubu region, Limpopo province, South Africa.