Effect of some diets on biological parameters of Apomyelois ceratoniae in laboratory and efficiency of natural pheromone traps in pomegranate orchards

Pomegranate fruit moth (PFM), Apomyelois ceratoniae Zeller is a major pest of pomegranate in Iran. In this study, the effect of four diets including pistachio, pomegranate, semi-artificial and artificial diets were studied on biological parameters of PFM in a growth chamber under controlled conditions at 30 ± 2 °C, 65 ± 5% RH and 16:8 (L: D) h. The results demonstrated that the longest incubation period, larval developmental time and preimaginal development time was observed on artificial diet and the shortest was on the pomegranate. The highest and lowest body length of fifth instar larvae were observed on pistachio and artificial diet, respectively. The heaviest weight of third day pupae was recorded for the larvae that were reared on pistachio (0.0275 ± 0.0004 g) while the lightest was on artificial diet (0.0216 ± 0.0004 g). In the next experiment, the effect of four diets was considered to assess the efficiency of pheromone traps in a twenty year old pomegranate orchard cultivated with Malasse Yazdi cultivars. The effect of food on catch of traps showed a significant difference. The virgin PFM that were fed with pomegranate attracted more males. Also the traps caught the males mostly from 11:00 pm until 4:00 am, with the peak time between 23:00 and midnight. No significant difference was seen between diet and time of catch, indicating that starting or ending time and the maximum time of catch was not affected by the diets.