بررسی آستانه حداقل و نیاز حرارتی دو آفت انباری پسته (شب پره هندی و شب پره خرنوب)

‭The Indian meal moth. Plodia interpunctella Hubner. Is considered as an important stored pest: for pistachio nuts. The Carob moth, Apomyelois (=Ectomyelosis) ceratoniae Zeller, attacks pistachio nuts both in nature by feeding on fresh pistachio kernel (at pistachio orcbards) and also dried pistachio nuts in tbe store-houses. This study was carried out to determine the thermal constant and the lower threshold for the above two pistachio stored pests in the controlled condition (constant tempemture ranged between 17.5-32.5 C, 55+-5% r.h. and 16:8 L:D). A colony of these insects were established in the laboratory fed by pistachio nuts. Adult moth from the colony served as the parent stock for all experiments and development of each insect from egg to adult emergence was checked in separate experiments. The mean for each temperature, lower threshold, and themal constant all were calculated from the pooled data, of male and female developmental time from egg to adult emergence. The theoretical lower threshold for development extrapolated from linear function was found to be 13.1 and 9.4 C for P. interpunctella and A. ceratoniae respectively. The thermal constant (in days-degrees centigrade above the threshold) of examined insects was estimated 526.3 and 769 D (degree days) using linear regression equation. Based on these results, it is proposed that if pistachio-producers and pistachio‬ص‭storekeepers maintain their storage around 9.4 C, the product would be kept safely against damages of the Indian meal moth and Carob moth.‬