Population density of different growth stages of the safflower fly, Acanthiophilus helianthi (Rossi) (Diptera: Trypetidae) on different cultivars of safflower in the south of Tehran

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

The safflower fly, Acanthiophilus helianthi is one of the most important pests of safflower in the world that every year causes sever damage to the crop. In order to study population density of the safflower fly in 2012, seven safflower cultivars including Goldasht, Padideh, Zarghan, Varamin, PI, Acataria, Mec163 were cultivated under Completely Randomized Block Design with four replicates in research field of Shahed University (Southern Tehran). Once adult were captured, sampling was started from safflower bolls on weekly basis from late June to late of August. The number of larvae and pupae in each boll were counted separately for each cultivar and recorded in tables. Cultivar PI (10.81) had the highest density of larvae than other varieties. Cultivars Mec163 and Goldasht with rank mean of 60.45 and 62.83 had the lowest larval density than other varieties, respectively. Padideh and Zarghan cultivars with rank mean of 75.83 and 75.40 had the highest density of pupae than other varieties, respectively. Mec163 cultivar with a rank mean of 63.10 comparisons with other varieties had the lowest density of pupae. Varamin cultivar in comparison with other cultivars with rank mean rank of 77.9 had the highest safflower fly developmental stages, and then PI and Padideh cultivars with rank mean of 76.5 and 76.2 had the highest density of total developmental stages, respectively. Mec163 cultivar among varieties, with a rank average of 58.50 and Goldasht with the rank mean of 59.28 had the lowest density of all developmental stages. In general it can be concluded that mean density of different developmental stages of pest on some cultivar was low because of premature and early emergence and spiny bolls.

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