Population density of the pistachio twig borer moth, Kermania pistaciella Amsel on pistachio cultivars

The pistachio twig borer moth, Kermania pistaciella Amsel (Lep.: Tineidae) is one of the most important pests of pistachio trees in Iran. This study was carried out with the purpose of examining the infestation rate for various cultivars to this pest. The field studies were conducted for the collection of existing pistachio cultivars at three pistachio research stations including Rafsanjan stations 1 and 2 as well as at Kerman station respectively on 38, 25 and 29 pistachio cultivars during 2005 – 2008. The infestation rate was determined with selection of 6 trees related to each pistachio cultivar, and 50 clusters of each tentative tree were picked up randomly, and also by sampling from the healthy and infected clusters simultaneously at harvesting time in September. The results showed that, the cultivars of Italiaei Rize were the most infested and Lak Sirizei had the least infected clusters of this pest at the station number 1. In station number 2, the cultivars of Shasti and Khanjari Damghan indicated the highest and the least infested clusters of this pest respectively, but the infestation rate for 4 commercial cultivars e.g. Ohadi, Ahmad Aghaei, Kallehghochi and Akbari, had no significant difference. In Kerman station, the highest infestation obtained for cultivar of Karim-Abadi and cultivar of Harati had the least infested clusters. Maximum emergence of matured K. pistaciella occurred since pollination stage until the time of fruit formation on commercial pistachio cultivars. The information obtained from this research can be used for controlling management of this pest.