Population abundance of grape berry moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis et Schiffermuller) (Lep., Tortricidae) and its related crop damage in Orumieh vineyards

Subject Areas : entomology and othea arthropods

Gh. Akbarzadeh Shoukat ¹

1 - Agricultural and Natural Resources Resaerch Center of West Azerbaijan, Orumieh, Iran

Received: 2012-02-09 Accepted : 2012-08-21 Published : 2012-08-22

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Abstract :

Grape berry moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis et Schiffermuller) is the main pest of Iran and most vineyards of the world. The pest larva causes yield reduction by feeding on inflorescences and berries. The pest reduces the quality of grape by favoring the growth condition of rot fungus such as Botrytis cinerea as well. The seasonal population abundance and related damage of the pest were investigated for 3 years in 3 main vine growing districts of Orumieh, Iran. The population           dynamics and density of the moth were monitored by sex pheromone traps and the damage of inflorescence clusters and fruit bunches were determined by sampling from experimental vineyards in different years and generations. Results showed that the grape berry moth has 3 complete flight periods with an average of 37, 26 and 54 days for 3 generations, respectively. Population               abundance was varied between years, districts and generations from 51 to 1647 male moths /trap/generation. There was no significant relationship between population abundance and damaged clusters at different districts and generations during 2 years study. Infestation rate of flower clusters at the first generation varied form 68 to 90 percent with a severity of 1 to 15 larval nests per cluster. In the second and third generations, the infestation rate of fruit bunches varied from 43 to 100           percent and the damaged berries per clusters were from 1 to 63 percent.