Population Density of Tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera:Gelechiidae) under plastic houses conditions (b)

The aim of this work was to investigate the population density and infestation percentage of Tuta absoluta on tomato crop Lycopersicum esculentum Mill under plastic houses conditions in two locations at Duhok province ( 36° 54' N, 43° 8' E )/ Kurdistan region/ northern of Iraq in 2012. The average number of mines/ leaflet and larvae/ leaf during the study season were 1.36 and 0.42 respectively. The results showed a significant differences in number of mines/leaflet and number of males/trap among the two locations. In spite of that the pest management strategies were weekly applied by farmers and based largely on chemical applications (Insecticide) which targeted to controlling T. absoluta and other lepidopteran pests (Noctuidae: Heliothinae), a high percentage of infestation was recorded in September as 100% and 72% for Summel and Zawita respectively. A maximum number of males/ trap/ week was 56.66 recorded on 10/9/2012 in Summel . Keywords: Tuta absoluta, population dynamics, Tomato, Kurdistan region-Iraq.