Investigation on the lepidopterous pest species on the important summer and winter vegetables areas in Hatay region with their population dynamics and parasitoids

In this study, it was determined Lepidopterous species that is pest for important three winter vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, red cabbage) and five summer vegetables (tomato, pepper, eggplant, bean, okra) in Hatay province with determining parasitoids feeding on this pest. Also, population dynamics of some important lepidopter pest species were determined.In this study, 13 lepidopterous species from four families were determined in 99 vegetable fields based on two years survey. Pieris rapae (L.) was highly wide separated species with 40.40 % of controlled fields. Two larva parasitoids from Ichneumonidae family, three larvae parasiotids from Braconidae family, one pupa parasitoid from Pteromalidae family, (these families from Hymenoptera order) and four larva-pupa parasitoids from Tachinidae family (from Diptera order) were determined as parasitoids of lepidopterous species. In winter vegetable fields without any agricultural chemical application, the population dinamics of lepidopter species were determined and, consequently, Pieris brassicae (L.) was found to be most dominant species however, its populations 12.20 larvaes in cabbage and 5.88 larvaes in cauliflower per plant were not important because of harvest season in December-January.In the event that 267 summer vegetable production areas were surveyed for two years six lepidopterous species from Noctuidae family were determined, but Helicoverpa armigera Hbn. was the most wide spread between them. This pest were seen mostly in tomato with 85.71 % in controlled fields in 2006 and 77.41 % in 2007. One larva parasitoid from each family Ichneumonidae and Braconidae was determined as lepidopterous parasitoids in summer vegetables. Except tomato, there were not any important presence of lepidopterous species in summer vegetables pepper, eggplant, bean, and okra. In the conducted study for two years with five tomato production area, H. armigera from lepidopterous species was determined as the highest population in 2007 in the 1st sub-region with 40 % contamination and 4.60 % fruit damaged. However, this maximum loss was even less than the economical threshold 5 %.Keywords: summer vegetables, winter vegetables, lepidopterous species, parasitoids, population dynamics