1 2251-9041 Tarbiat Modares University 4469 Aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Aphidiinae) associated with pome and stone fruit trees in Iran Rakhshani Ehsan b b Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, University of Zabol 1 6 2012 1 2 81 95 01 05 2012 26 05 2012 The aphidiine parasitoids (Hym., Braconidae) attacking the pest aphids on various pome and stone fruit trees in different parts of Iranwere studied. A total of 13 species belonging to seven genera of aphid parasitoids were identified in association with 17 aphid species on 10 different species of fruit trees. Sixty nine tritrophic associations were detected from the studied area of which 25 associations are newly recorded from Iran. An illustrated key is prepared for identification of the species. The parasitoids were categorized based on their potential impacts in biocontrol of pest aphids into the less important species and the key-stones. The first group of parasitoids includes the broadly oligophagous species, and even an occasional opportunistic species, Lysiphlebus fabarum (Marshall), while the second group includes the specific associations like Aphidius transcaspicus Telenga on Hyalopterus spp. and Pauesia antennata (Mukerji) on Pterochloroides persicae (Cholodkovsky). A probable occurrence of the univoltine aphid parasitoid, Pseudopauesia prunicola Halme in association with Ovatus insitus (Walker) is discussed.  
2185 Some properties of α-amylase in the digestive system and head glands of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Ahmadi Fatemeh c Khani Abbas d Ghadamyari Mohammad e c Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran. d Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran. Tel. and Fax: +98-542-2242501; E-mail address: abbkhani@yahoo.com e Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. 1 6 2012 1 2 97 105 11 02 2012 21 05 2012 Biochemical characteristics of α-amylase in the digestive system and head glands of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, a key predator of citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Pseudococcidae), were studied. The major isoform of α-amylase with the same molecular weight was detected in both gut and head glands loaded on polyacrylamide-starch gel electrophoresis. Moreover, a minor band with much lower intensity was observed in zymogram analysis of gut. Results showed that the specific activity of α-amylase from head glands (0.89 ± 0.02 μmol/min/mg protein) was significantly more than that of digestive system (0.76 ± 0.01 μmol/min/mg protein) in common condition (temperature equal to 25 ± 1 oC). The optimal pH and temperature for α-amylases activity were determined to be nearly 4 and 50°C in digestive system and 6 and 60 °C in head glands, respectively. EDTA (Ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid), Mg2+, Na+, Co2+, Fe2+ and Ca2+ inhibited the enzyme activity but Ba2+, Zn2+, Hg+ and K+ enhanced enzyme activity in digestive system. EDTA and all tested metal ions except Ba2+ inhibited the enzyme activity of head glands. Detectable levels of α-amylase activity in the insect reflect adaptation of the coccinellid for using starch granules or sugars (honeydew; sugary excreta of homopterans; and nectar) as a source of food in addition to predatory habits. 11399 Fungi associated with root and crown rot of wheat in Khuzestan province, Iran Eslahi Mohammad Reza f f Khuzestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Ahvaz, Iran. 1 6 2012 1 2 107 113 26 02 2012 30 05 2012 To identify the fungi associated with foot and root rot of wheat in the Khuzestan province, diseased samples were collected at all growth stages in three growing seasons of 2004-2007. Pieces of infected parts of the root and foot were surface sterilized and cultured on acidic and non acidic PDA media. One hundred and fifteen isolates were obtained and on the basis of macroscopic and microscopic characters and valid keys were identified as Fusarium solani, F. equiseti, F. moniliforme, F. subglutinans, F. sambucinum, F. culmorum, F. proliferatum, F. pseudograminearum, F. longipes, F. avenacium, F. nygamai, F. semitectum, F. lateritium, Rhizoctonia solani, Bipolaris sorokiniana and Pythium sp. F. equiseti, F. solani and F. culmorum with occurrence frequencies of 16.07, 16.07 and 12.5 % respectively were more frequent than all other species. Results of Pathogenicity tests indicated that F. pseudograminearum and F.culmorum were the main fungi associated with wheat root and crown rot disease in khuzestan while other Fusarium spp. such as F. equiseti are probably aggravated by moisture stress at different growth stages of crop due to poor irrigation management. Rhizoctonia solani with occurrence frequency of 8.03 % in some regions such as Ahvaz, Shoush, Shoushtar and Baghmalek was important agent of crown and root rot of wheat second to Fusarium species. Bipolaris sorokiniana and Pythium sp also caused crown and root rot but with less frequency percent.   5684 Fumigant toxicity of essential oils from Citrus reticulata Blanco fruit peels against Tribolium castaneum Herbst (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Safavi Seyed Ali g Mobki Marzieh h g Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University h Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University 1 6 2012 1 2 115 120 26 02 2012 05 06 2012 Certain compounds of plants such as essential oils, with insecticidal properties have been considered as alternatives to chemical pesticides for pest control. This study reports the fumigant toxicity of Citrus reticulata Blanco (Rutaceae) peel essential oils against stored-product insect pest, red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum Herbst (Tenebrionidae) adults. Experiment was carried out at 27 ± 1 °C and 60 ± 5 % relative humidity in darkness. Experimental concentrations were 15, 22, 31, 45, and 63 μl/l air tested on adult (1-7 days old) insects after 24 and 48 h of exposure. Results indicated that essential oils from C. reticulata had fumigant tocxicity effects against this stored pest. LC50 values were 38.2 and 35.6 μl/l air at 24 and 48 h after exposure of T. castaneum adults respectively. The essential oils of Citrus reticulata fruit peels at the highest dose of 63 μl/l air caused 76.6 % and 79 % mortality of insects after 24 and 48 hours of exposure, respectively. Mortality of T. castaneum increased with both increase in concentration of C. reticulata oils as well as exposure time of treated insects. These results suggest the potencial of C. reticulata oil as a control agent against T. castaneum.   2201 Effect of four wheat cultivars on life table parameters of Schizaphis graminum (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Goldasteh Sheyda i Talebi Ali Asghar j Rakhshani Ehsan k Goldasteh Shila l i Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran. j Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran k Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran. l Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran. 1 6 2012 1 2 121 129 21 04 2012 20 06 2012 The life table parameters of Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on four commercial cultivars of wheat (Kohdasht, Pastor, Tajan and Zagros) were determined in laboratory conditions. Fertility life table were constructed using age-specific survivorship (lx) and age-specific fecundity (mx) and subsequently analyzed using jackknife method and ANOVA. There were significant differences among pre-imaginal period and adult longevity of the aphid on the four wheat cultivars. The highest mortality occurred at first nymphal instar on all of wheat cultivars tested. The life expectancy (ex) of one-day-old adults was estimated to be 23.5, 24.6, 30.36 and 26.83 days on Kohdasht, Pastor, Tajan and Zagros, respectively. The gross reproductive rate was significantly higher on Tajan (102.39 ± 1.42 females/female/generation) compared with other three cultivars. The net reproductive rate (R­0) significantly differed on different wheat cultivars examined. The R0-value was highest on Tajan (82.21 ± 1.21) and lowest on Zagros (38.23 ± 0.63 females/female/generation). The highest and lowest values of the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) were 0.276 ± 0.002 (on Pastor) and 0.222 ± 0.001 day-1 (on Zagros), respectively. The finite rate of increase (l) differed significantly among four wheat cultivars, ranging from 1.25 ± 0.00 (on Zagros) to 1.32 ± 0.00 days-1 (on Pastor). Doubling time ranged from 2.51 ± 0.02 (on Pastor) to 3.12 ± 0.02 days (on Zagros). The longest mean generation time (T) of the aphid was obtained on Tajan cultivar. The results showed that the Zagros cultivar had the highest antibiotic effect on population growth of S. graminum.   3744 Identification of new maize inbred lines with resistance to Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. Karaya Haron m Kiarie Njoroge n Mugo Stephen o Kanampiu Fred p Ariga Emmanuel Nderitu John m International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), P. O. Box 1041-00621, Nairobi, Kenya n University of Nairobi, Faculty of Agriculture, Upper Kabete Campus, P. O. Box 29053, Nairobi, Kenya o International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), P. O. Box 1041-00621, Nairobi, Kenya p International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), P. O. Box 1041-00621, Nairobi, Kenya University of Nairobi, Faculty of Agriculture, Upper Kabete Campus, P. O. Box 29053, Nairobi, Kenya University of Nairobi, Faculty of Agriculture, Upper Kabete Campus, P. O. Box 29053, Nairobi, Kenya 1 6 2012 1 2 131 142 18 02 2012 20 06 2012 Striga hermonthica is a noxious, obligate hemi-parasite of cereal grasses that causes severe grain yield loss in susceptible maize cultivars in Africa. The development of host plant resistance is one of the most practical Stiga control strategies. In this study experiments on 36 maize inbred lines were conducted in pots and in field during the two rainy seasons of 2009 at Kibos and Alupe stations in Kenya. This study was carried out in order to determine the variation in Striga emergence, and the correlation between the attachments of the parasite to the roots. Significant differences (P < 0.001) were detected among the inbred lines for grain yield under Striga-free environment. The Striga damage rating (SDR) was significant (P < 0.05) among the inbred lines. A highly significant and negative correlation coefficient was observed between grain yield and Striga damage rating (r = - 0.67). Positive correlation coefficients were observed between grain yield and ear aspect (r = 0.46) and plant aspect (r = 0.75), respectively. For the experiment in pots, highly significant differences (P < 0.01) were observed among the inbred lines for Striga resistance traits. Striga attachments were found to be correlated with the number of emerged Striga plants. A significant correlation was found between Striga attachments and Striga counts in pots at the 10th week after planting (WAP) (r = 0.25) and the 14th WAP (r = 0.31). Inbred lines JI-30-19 and OSU231//56/44-6-4-17-3 were identified as the most resistant lines as they consistently performed well in both Striga-free and Striga-infested environments. These inbred lines could be used for breeding Striga-resistant maize varieties.   11227 Powdery mildew of tomato in Qazvin province of Iran: host range, morphological and molecular characterization Hoseinkhaniha Sepideh Khodaparast Seyed Akbar Zarabi Mohamad Mahdi Razaz Hashemi Seyed Reza University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran Imam khomeini international university, Qazvin, Iran Qazvin Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center, Qazvin, Iran 1 6 2012 1 2 143 152 26 05 2012 01 07 2012 Powdery mildew is one of the most important disease concerns of tomato production in different regions of the world, which is caused by different species of Erysiphales. The most important causal agents of which are Leveillula taurica and Oidium neolycopersici. In the present study tomato farms in Qazvin province were surveyed and tomato leaves with powdery mildew symptoms were collected. After morphological studies in laboratory and using reliable resources, the causal agent of tomato powdery mildew was identified as Leveillula taurica. The host range was determined by inoculation of Leveillula taurica from tomato on nine species of plants belonging to four different plant families. All cultivars of tomato, eggplant, pepper and cucumber used in this study, showed disease symptoms on their leaf surfaces. Other plant species including potato, alfalfa, sunflower, clover and sainfoin did not get infected by the pathogen. The nucleotide divergence for the rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) region between tomato mildew and 21 other Leveillula taurica isolates ranged from 0.00 to 0.031 %. The sequence of ITS region of Leveillula taurica from tomato was identical to that of eight isolates from different plant species.   3966 First report of Phaeoacremonium rubrigenum, associated with declining persimmon trees in Iran Jamali Samad Banihashemi Zia College of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 1 6 2012 1 2 153 159 17 06 2012 08 07 2012 The genus Phaeoacremonium is associated with decline disease of woody plants and with human infections. Members of this genus have broad host range and wide geographical distribution. During 2010, ten isolates of Phaeoacremonium were recovered from vascular tissues of persimmon (Diospyros kaki) trees, showing decline symptoms in Shiraz city. Anamorphic characteristics such as, conidiophore morphology, phialide type and shape, size of hyphal warts, conidial size and shape were investigated. Based on morphological characteristics the presence of Pm. rubrigenum in Iran was documented. To confirm morphological identification, DNA was extracted from isolates using a genomic DNA purification Kit. Region of internal transcribed spacers 1, 2 and 5.8S genes of rDNA were amplified using ITS4 and ITS1 universal primer set. Fragments of 630 bp were recovered from PCR, purified, sequenced, edited and deposited in GenBank. Pm. rubrigenum isolates had an average of 99 % identity with all P. rubrigenum sequences compared. This species is a new report from Iran.   4338 Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata: Phytoseiidae) in some regions of western and north western Iran Asali Fayaz Bahman Khanjani Mohammad Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Bu Ali–Sina University, Hamadan, I. R. Iran Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Bu Ali–Sina University, Hamadan, I. R. Iran 1 6 2012 1 2 161 172 01 06 2012 09 07 2012 Study of phytoseiid mites in some regions of western and north–westernIranwere carried out during 2008–2011. In this study, 21 species belonging to the six genera were collected and identified. They were associated with aerial parts, soil and litter under cultivated, uncultivated plants and some phytophagous mites and insects.