BIOLOGY OF THE APPLE BLOSSOM WEEVIL (ANTHONOMUS POMORUM, L.) ACCORDING TO THE METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF YEAR 2015 AT R.S.F.G. BISTRIŢA

• Main Author: Jakab-Ilyefalvi Zsolt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti 2015-12-01
• Series: Fruit Growing Research
• Subjects: apple blossom weevil; climatic conditions; development stages
• Online Access: http://publications.icdp.ro/publicatii/lucrari%202015/13.Jakab%20Zsolt.pdf

The apple blossom weevil (Anthonomus pomorum L.) is dispersed in almost every European country in the pome fruit growing regions; in Romania it can be observed between the Quercus forest steppe region and the steppe region, the economic impact being very important due to the damage produced by the pest which can achieve very high rates of losses. Forecasting the main biological development stages of the pest is a key element in the control of this pest.The main research objectives of the experiment were: the study of the biology of colonization dynamics of the pest according to the biological development stages; the comparing of the efficiency of two monitoring techniques: classical limb jarring method and newly designed bubble wrap method; the study of the main meteorological factors which had an impact of the apple blossom weevil biology. Capture results by the two monitoring techniques show close values, the seasonal culmination of the apple blossom weevil colonization occurred at the end of March (27.03.2015) with more than 50 adults/tree. Observations were effectuated according to the phenological stages of apple bud development (BBCH method); feeding of both female and male adults occurred between silvery green tip (BBCH 52) and pink bud stage (BBCH 57), thus crawling, feeding, mating, oviposition occurred on the days with temperatures above 6 ˚C. For every holometabolic development stage it was calculated the sum of temperatures at the beginning and at the end of the biological phase. For the newly designed bubble wrap method there where used two kind of bubble wrap types, results showed that the bubble wrap with larger spaces within the bubble wrap is more suitable for the weevil capture than smaller ones. With the use of the transparent bubble wrap method it was possible not only the reutilization of the wrap by tightening back on the trunk of trees but also the easy numbering of weevils without the risk of damaging the buds and the branches. The gathered data indicated that the main environmental factors expressed by the mean, minimum, maximum temperatures, relative humidity and rainfall influenced directly the completing of the biological developmental stages of the apple blossom weevil (Anthonomus pomorum L.).