POPULATION DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF INSECT PESTS OF OAK TREE FRUITS IN ERBIL GOVERNORATE

Abstract

This study was conducted to survey insect pests attacking oak tree fruits (acorns), in six oak tree forest locations belonging to Erbil Governorate-Kurdistan region-Iraq, to estimate infestation percentages, larval number inside acorns and evaluate the effectiveness of insect infestation on the acorn germination ratio during November 2022 to March 2023. The result showed that there were two types of insects belonging to two different orders Coleoptera and Lepidoptera; the Coleopteran insect Curculio sp. was more abundant than the Lepidopteran insect Cydia sp. For coleopteran larva infestation, Barzan oak tree forests were the most infested location among the studied locations, recording the highest infestation percentage of 40.04% infestation/ sampled acorns and the Choman area was the least abundant in terms of infestation by recording the lowest average 0.88% infestation/ sampled acorns of coleopteran larva infestation. However, for Lepidopteran larva infestation, the highest average percentage of infestation was recorded at 18.25% in Tawska and the lowest average percentage of moth infestation was 2.64% in Choman. In addition, this research indicated that, the weevil larval infestation has the highest impact on the germination rate of acorns by recording 80% failure in acorn germination among tested acorns.

Keywords

• acorn infestation
• cydia
• curculio sp
• larva
• oak
• weevil