Abstract

The development, longevity, and reproductive potential of Schizotetranychus smirnovi concerning different almond cultivars including Sefid, Azar, Shokofeh, Shahrood6, Shahrood7, Ferragnes, Shahrood13, Shahrood21, Rabie, Nonpareil, and Mamaei were investigated in the current study. Our results indicated the longest developmental time of females on Shahrood21 (7.35 ± 0.10), while the shortest duration of this parameter was found on Rabie (6.21 ± 0.10) and Nonpareil (5.88 ± 0.17) cultivars. The total mortality ranged from 13.30 to 50.00% on Azar and Shokofeh, respectively. On the majority of cultivars, the highest proportion of mortality among all stages was allocated to larvae which indicated that it was the most sensitive stage. The fecundity of S. smirnovi on Mamaei (34.19 ± 3.60), Sefid (30.50 ± 2.67), and Ferragnes (30.31 ± 3.02) was significantly higher than other cultivars. However, the lowest fecundity (11.21 ± 1.70) was observed on Shokofeh cultivar. Moreover, different cultivars resulted in significant differences in all population growth parameters. Azar had the highest value of both intrinsic rate of increase (r) (0.2675 ± 0.0164) and finite rate of increase (λ) (1.3067 ± 0.0213), whereas the value of these parameters on Shokofeh and Shahrood21 were significantly lower than other cultivars. The mean generation time (T) ranged from 9.51 ± 0.16 on Shahrood7 to 11.69 ± 0.39 d on Shahrood21 cultivar. According to our results, Mamaei, Nonpareil, Rabie, Ferragnes and Azar cultivars were more susceptible, while Shokofeh, Shahrood21, and Shahrood13 seemed to be more tolerant to S. smirnovi.