ترجيح ميزباني كرم ميوه خوار خرما در ارقام بومي خرماي استان خوزستان

Host Preference of Date Lesser Moth (Batrachedra amydraula Meyr)to Khuzestan Native Cultivars of Date Palm

Lesser moth has been known as one of the major pests of date palm in Iran and its damage in some areas such as Barn has been increased up to 50-70 percent recently. This pest damages fruits in both orchards and stores. In this study, 30 Khuzestan native date palm cultivars were classified in to four groups based on percentage of infestations of the cultivars. The first group, highly infested cultivars, including Dagalsorkh, Bentalsabae, Diry, Raim, Jahromy, Sayer, Gantar, Dagalzard and Berhee. The second group, moderately infested cultivars, including Hamravi, Bobaki, Sovidani, Berim, Halavi, Belyani, Zahedi, Khazravi, Fersi and Hadal. The third group, less infested cultivars, including Ashkar, Jozi, Khasab, and Amobahri. The fourth group, noninfested cultivars, including Hasavi, Liloei and Mashtom. The characters such as bunch number, bunch weight, pedicel length, fruits number, fruit length, fruit width and fruit weight showed significant correlation with lesser moth infestation. Other characteristics such as the smallest strand length, stone weight and flesh/stone ratio had not significant correlation with infestation.