Does Geographic Region of Pomegranate Affect Life History of Carob Moth? A Case Study on Fruits Obtained From Three Different Climate Regions of Iran

Many studies have been done so far on the reproductive biology of carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae, considering different environmental conditions, however, climate regions’ indirect effects cascaded up to the carob moth performance are not studied yet. A soil-pomegranate fruit cv. Malas-carob moth system was utilized based on three populations of pomegranate cv. Malas grown in three different climate regions of Iran (Aqda, Tarom-e-Oliya, and Saveh). Aqda region supported the highest nitrogen content for both soil and fruit; however, according to the two-sex life table, population growth parameters did not vary significantly in the carob moth reared on the fruits collected from these three climate regions. There was no correlation between soil nitrogen content and all population growth and biological parameters of the pest. Among all population growth and biological parameters, pupal period (r= -0.997, P= 0.047) and development time (r= -0.997, P= 0.051) showed inverse correlations with fruit nitrogen at 10% significance level. It was concluded that climate region indirect effect on the carob moth performance could not emanate under the pomegranate cultivar shade, however, this hypothesis should be tested in future.