CORRELATION BETWEEN POPULATION DYNAMICS OF Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechidae) AND CLIMATE, AT TOMATO IN PROTECTED AREA

Abstract

This research confirmed the occurrence and presence of tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechidae) on tomato, in a protected area, in Southeast Macedonia, in the period of 2015 - 2016. Pheromones traps, as a secure method for monitoring and detecting the presence of T. absoluta, were used for collecting insects. The presence of T. absoluta was proved by morphological analysis of the male genital structure. The main objective of our research was to determine the correlation between the dynamics of populations of T. absoluta and climate factors in two production systems – integral and conventional, over two season spring /autumn, at tomatoes in a protected area. The correlation is displayed through statistical analysis of the results, by applying a software package for statistical processing of the results, SPSS 19.