Interaction effects between time and cultivar on the seasonal fluctuations of the safflower fly,Acanthiophilus helianthi (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and its parasitoids in the south of Tehran

The safflower fly, Acanthiophilus helianthi is one of the most important pests of safflower in the world that every year puts a lot of loss to the crop. In order to study interaction effect between time and cultivar on seasonal fluctuations and parasitism of the safflower fly on 2012, seven safflower cultivars including Goldasht, Padideh, Zarghan, Varamin, PI, Acataria, Mec163 was cultivated under Completely Randomised Block Design with four replicates in research field of Shahed University research (south of Tehran). Once the prey of adult samples, sampling was started from safflower bolls on weekly basis from late June to late of August. The number of larvae and pupae in each boll were counted separately for each cultivar and recorded in the tables. The highest density of larvae was observed on Goldasht cultivar on 9 July. Aceteria cultivar, on 9 July and Zarghan, Mec163 and PI cultivars on 15 July and Mec163 cultivar was observed the lowest density. The highest density of pupa was observed on cultivar Padideh on 9 July. Also the lowest density of pupa was observed on cultivar PI on 2 July. Goldasht and Aceteria cultivars on 9 July had the highest contaminated bolls, respectively. The lowest density of infested bolls on 25 June was observed on Zarghan and Aceteria cultivars with rank mean of 30.00. The highest natural parasitism of the safflower fly, A. helianthi by Microdontomerus annulatus was observed on the 9 July and lowest on the 19 June. The highest and lowest percentage of parasitism by Ormyrus gratiosus was observed, respectively on the 19 June and the 2 July. In conclusion, using integrated pest management and crop cultivars suitable for early crop up a lot of damage can be prevented.