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Spatio-temporal distribution of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) from Pakistan

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Abstract

The tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) was reported for the first time in 2018 from Multan, the southern part of Punjab, Pakistan. As this is an invasive pest so with the intention to monitor the geographical distribution of this invasive pest, a survey was carried out for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021 in tomato growing districts of Punjab province including Multan, Muzaffargarh, Lodhran, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi and Charsadda from the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Monitoring was done through field surveys and sex pheromone delta traps. Results showed that 17.62% of samples were found with Tuta absoluta attack or life stages i.e., egg, larvae, pupa and adults. Out of the total attacked samples, 15.54% of the samples were reported from Charsadda district, followed by Rawalpindi and Multan in surveyed years with 1.45% and 0.62%, respectively. No larval infestation or adults were captured from Muzaffargarh, Lodhran and Rahim Yar Khan districts throughout the survey. Maximum numbers of adults were captured in 2020 with 132 adults per week. However, no significant difference was observed among moths captured per year. The number of adult moths captured per week increased with the rising temperature and with the maximum capture occurring in temperatures ranging between 25 and 35 °C. The results concluded that the T. absoluta has established itself in the Charsadda district, whereas in Rawalpindi, it is in the establishing process. Due to its reproductive rate and high capacity to disseminate, there is a high-level risk that the pest can spread to the whole province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Consequently, an integrated pest management strategy is the utmost need of time to control this invasive insect pest in Pakistan.

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Data Availability

The data used and analyzed during this research work will be available from the corresponding author on a realistic request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan who funded the first author under Indigenous Ph.D. fellowship Phase II batch V. We are also thankful to colleagues from the local department, Pest Warning and Quality Control of pesticides (Plant Protection) Punjab, a wing of Agriculture department and Director General Agriculture Extension Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for their assistance in the monitoring of T. absoluta at field level. Thanks to all the growers who permitted us to use their farms throughout the course of study especially Noor ul Islam from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We thank Dr. Hillary Fischer, for her support in statistical analysis and improvement in English language of manuscript. This work is done as a part of the Ph.D. thesis of the first author.

Funding

Funding was provided by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan under Indigenous Ph.D. fellowship Phase II batch V.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, Institute of Plant Protection, MNS University of Agriculture Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

    M. Sadique, M. Ishtiaq & U. Naeem-Ullah

  2. Functional and Evolutionary Entomology, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium

    M. Sadique

  3. Department of Pest Warning and Quality Control of Pesticides, Govt. of Punjab, Punjab, Pakistan

    M. Sadique

  4. Department of Horticulture, MNS University of Agriculture Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

    N. Faried

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  1. M. Sadique
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  2. M. Ishtiaq
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  3. U. Naeem-Ullah
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  4. N. Faried
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Contributions

MS and UNU designed the experiment. MI and MS conducted the experiment and wrote the article. MS and NF helped in the statistical analysis. MI and UNU revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final article after reading.

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Correspondence to M. Sadique.

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Sadique, M., Ishtiaq, M., Naeem-Ullah, U. et al. Spatio-temporal distribution of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) from Pakistan. Int J Trop Insect Sci 42, 3023–3032 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-022-00837-z

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