PERIODICAL LESSER DATE MOTH INFESTATION ON INTACT AND DROPPED FRUITS

Lesser date moth, Batrachedra amydraula (Meyr) is a very important insect pest of date. It attacks the date fruits and causes heavy losses. There are three generations of this insect per year. It appears in April, while the fruits are in unripe stage and remains till September. The study was carried out on Aseel variety of date palm, to monitor the peak period of infestation of the insects both on intact fruit as well as dropped fruit on four locations viz: Kot Digi, Kingri, Khairpur and Therhi district Khairpur, Sindh Province, Pakistan. The observations were recorded on weekly basis from 1st April to the end of August during 2007 and 2008. It was concluded that the attack of this insect was on its peak during the months of June. It was also found that the attack on dropped dates was more than on intact fruit. The attack during peak period reached 10-12% in intact fruits and 17-18% in dropped fruits. The infestation percentage decreased during August and September, 2007-08.