Development and Demographic Parameters of the Carob Moth Apomyelois Ceratoniae on Four Diet Regimes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Bulletin of Insectology 61 (2): 291-297, 2008 ISSN 1721-8861 Development and demographic parameters of the carob moth Apomyelois ceratoniae on four diet regimes Ali NOROUZI, Ali Asghar TALEBI, Yaghoub FATHIPOUR Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Abstract The carob moth, Apomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller) (Lepidoptera Pyralidae), is a serious pest of pomegranate in Iran and a well known pest of many fruits from a wide range of plant families as well as dried fruits during storage. Development and demo- graphic parameters of A. ceratoniae were studied in a growth chamber at temperature of 30 ± 1 °C, relative humidity of 75 ± 5% and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) on fruits of pomegranate, pistachio, fig, and date. The results indicated that mean generation times were 42.38 ± 0.47, 45.24 ± 0.42, 57.83 ± 1.19 and, 89.55 ± 1.48 days on pomegranate, pistachio, fig and, date, respectively. The gross fecundity rate on pistachio was higher than those on three other diets. The net reproductive rate (Ro) was calculated to be lowest on date (3.64 ± 0.59) and highest on pistachio (45.74 ± 4.17). The net reproductive rates on four diets differed signifi- cantly. The highest and lowest amounts of the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) were observed on pomegranate (0.107 ± 0.013) and date (0.018 ± 0.002), respectively. The rm values were significantly different among four diets. The highest estimated doubling time was 37.46 ± 5.82 days on date. Our findings showed that the reproduction and population growth parameters of the carob moth on fruits of pomegranate and pistachio were higher than those obtained on fig and date. Key words: Apomyelois ceratoniae, diet, life table, reproduction, population parameters. Introduction making the fruit unmarketable and unfit for human con- sumption (Shakeri, 2004). Adult carob moths begin to The carob moth, Apomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller), also emerge from early May in Iran, preferably attacks po- known as date moth, is an important pest attacking fruit megranate first. Apparently, pomegranate fruits provide trees and nut crops throughout the world (Gothilf, 1984; suitable conditions for oviposition of the carob moths. Warner, 1988). It is a major field pest of pomegranate, This may be because of the physical condition of pome- Punica granatum L. (Al-Izzi et al., 1985), pistachio, granate neck that protects the eggs and leads larvae to Pistacia vera L. (Dhouibi, 1982; Mehrnejad, 1993), the inside of the fruit. After completing some genera- date, Phoenix dactylifera L. (Echlin, 1982), almond, tions on pomegranate, as soon as other host plants pro- Prunus dulcis (Mill.) (Gothilf, 1984), but there are a few vide suitable conditions for laying eggs such as the records of its damage on other host plants such as fig, grooves and tracks that occur on pistachio (Mehrnejad, Ficus carica L. (Shakeri, 1993), walnut, Juglans nigra 1992), some individuals may attack those host plants in L. (Balachowsky, 1975), dried fruits, nuts, as well as addition to pomegranate. In many parts of pistachio other non-economic plants of a wide range of plant growing area in Iran, up to 10% of pistachio nuts in- families (Doumandji-Mitiche and Doumandji, 1982). fested by carob moth at harvesting time annually. This The carob moth is a well-known pest of date (Deglet insect is able to continue its damage when the nuts are Noor variety) in Algeria (Lepiger, 1963; Wertheimer, stored under storage conditions. Its maximum activity 1958) and Tunisia (Dhouibi, 1982), where it infested found to be during September and November in Rafsan- dates in field and in storage. Since the "Deglet Noor" jan, the central part of Iran. Adult moths cannot attack variety comprise 85% of the date crop in the Coachella to un-cracked hull nuts, however the larvae can pene- Valley (USA) (Nixon and Carpenter, 1978), control of trate into un-cracked shell from stem end. It appears that this pest is economically important to date growers. The the carob moth spend several generations on alternate carob moth poses a serious economic threat to the date hosts, mainly pomegranate before pistachio nuts crack- industry. During the past 25 years, the carob moth cau- ing of hulls (Mehrnejad, 1993). sed from 10-40% damage in the harvestable crop annu- The carob moth is commonly found in pomegranate ally (Nay et al., 2006; Warner, 1988). The date fruits do orchards in Iran, but there are only a few records of its not become infested until they begin to ripen (Lepiger, damage on other host plants such as fig (Shakeri, 1993). 1963; Wertheimer, 1958). The larvae then enter the date In Iran, this pest controlled by collecting and burning by crawling beneath the calyx. There may be some ol- infected pomegranate fruits at the end of growing sea- factory stimuli that attract the larvae to the calyx son that reduces overwintering sites (Behdad, 1991). (Dhouibi, 1982). However, infected pomegranates may not be the only In Iran up to 60412 hectares of pomegranate orchards sites for overwintering of A. ceratoniae and collecting have been cultured in recent years (Shakeri, 2004). The them may not effectively prevent overwintering (Mozaf- high quality of pomegranates in Iran has made it an im- farian et al., 2007). portant export commodity. The most important pest on This control method has also been used for controlling pomegranate fruits is carob moth, A. ceratoniae. Its lar- the pest on other fruit such as date (Warner et al., 1990). vae feed inside the fruit and highly affects fruit quality, Although, damage of this pest on some hosts especially fig does not cause economic damage but infested figs (L:D). Adults emerged from infested fruits were caught seem to provide suitable places for overwintering of the by an aspirator and transferred to the mating cages (50 × pest. In fact, numerous host plants cause that we fail to 50 × 100 cm) for one night. During the mating period, control of damage on pomegranate (Shakeri, 2004). In adult moths were provided with 10% honey water solu- spite of the more extensive activity of the carob moth on tion for feeding. Male and female moths were mated in pomegranate in Iran, some host plants such as fig, pista- first night and then each mated female was released chio and walnut can provide for increased stored nutri- separately into a plastic container (volume of 2 l). To tional reserves by larvae that may result in more suc- facilitate ventilation, a 5 cm diameter opening was cut cessful overwintering and higher fecundity in adults. on top of the plastic container and covered with nylon Populations on other host plants can have an important mesh. During the reproduction period a cotton wool, effect on expanding pest population sizes in following which was soaked with 10% honey water solution, was years which should be considered in control methods placed in container for moths feeding. The newly laid (Mozaffarian et al., 2007). eggs were transferred on four different diets (pomegran- Because of the economic importance of the carob ate, Malas cultivar; pistachio, Akbari cultivar; fig, Zard moth, there have been considerable researches on vari- cultivar and date, Zahedi cultivar) with a fine hair brush. ous aspects of the moth's developmental biology, as In each diet, the sex ratio of adults emerged from the well as some basic measures of fitness on various field larvae reared on particular diet was assessed. The carob hosts and artificial diets. These studies determined the moths were reared on each diet in the laboratory for number of generation per year (Al-Izzi et al., 1985; three generations before they were used in the experi- 1987; Gothilf, 1970; 1984; Warner, 1988), developmen- ments. tal rate of the egg, larval, and pupal stages (Al-Izzi and Al-Maliky, 1996; Al-Izzi et al., 1988; Al-Rubeai, 1987; Developmental time and life table Cox, 1976; 1979; Gothilf, 1968; 1969; 1970; 1984; To determine the life table parameters, 100 - 130 Moawad, 1979; Navarro et al., 1986; Warner, 1988), newly (one day old) eggs of the carob moth were sepa- effect of host moisture content on development (Cox, rately placed in Petri dishes (3 cm in diameter) on vari- 1976; Gothilf, 1968; 1969; Navarro et al., 1986; Nay, ous diets (pomegranate, pistachio, fig, and date). For 2006; Warner, 1988), light regimes (Cox, 1979; Warner, easy observation of the first and second instar larvae, 1988) and demographic parameters on date (Nay, 2006). pistachio, fig, and date fruits were cut into pieces (about Mehrnejad (1992) determined some biological charac- 2 × 3 mm), and pomegranate fruits were cut into single ters of A. ceratoniae such as adult emergence, sort of seeds. Seven pieces of each diet were placed in each larvae damage, degree of infection, overwintering and Petri dish. The pieces of diets were replaced with fresh winter mortality under natural condition in pistachio or- ones every 2 days throughout the duration of larval de- chards. velopment. Developmental stages were checked daily The effects of protein substrate (wheat, soybean, and with a stereomicroscope and developmental periods and corn meal), sugar substrate (honey and date syrup), and mortality of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults were re- sugar percentage (6.12 and 24%) on different biological corded. The larval instars were recognized by moulting. aspects such as larval period, pupal period, pupal This experiment was continued until the death of all in- weight, adult weight, mortality, fecundity, fertility, egg dividual members of the cohort. Two important life ta- hatching percentage and adult longevity were studied by ble parameters (survivorship and life expectancy) were Fakharzadeh (2002). The effects of three artificial diets calculated by the following formula: on size of different stages of carob moth were studied N x by Ghavami (2006).