Study of biology and damage of Liothrips austriacus (karney)(Thy.:Phlaeothripidae) and it's influence in causing spot and hull cracking in pistachio nuts.
2009
Kazemi, Fatemeh | Mehr Nezhad, Mohammad Reza | A`lavi, Hossein | Rajabi, Akbar
Thrips are being considered as the unimportant pests in the pistachio orchards in Iran.The damage of Liothrips austriacus (Karney) on pistachio nuts has defined at recent years, but information about it's biology and distribution was unavailable. In the present study the biology and damage of L. austriacus were examined in pistachio orchards in Rafsanjan. The activity of L. austriacus begins on pistachio cluster with growing pistachio trees and forming nuts. This insects would remain active during the growing season from spring to the time of harvest and then the adults are move under the bark stems and collar soil, around the trees. The main damage of thrips is related to nymphs that they feed on the fruits' epicarp. It causes a change in the fruit colour, brown spot, and then gragually the width of spots increased. Finally the injured fruit dry and subsequently fall off the trees. The results of this study showed that this thrips overwinters as adult under bark of trees and in the soil near the trunk collar. In this ssurvey the fruit that have infected by thrips were examined for aflatoxin contamination. Based on the results aflatoxin was found in the infected fruits. Whereas L. austriacus active on pistachio nuts consequently this species was called as the "pistachio fruit thrips".
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