~ 379 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(3): 379-382 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2018; 6(3): 379-382 © 2018 JEZS Received: 23-03-2018 Accepted: 24-04-2018 Hina Nisar Department of Plant Protection, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Shah Alam Khan Department of Plant Protection, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Zafrullah Khan Department of Plant Protection, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Ahmad -Ur- Rahman Saljoqi Department of Plant Protection, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Saddam Hussain Department of Plant Protection, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Noor Muhammad Department of Plant Protection, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Correspondence Hina Nisar Department of Plant Protection, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Relative susceptibility of four wheat cultivars against angoumois grain moth Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) (Lepidoptera: Gelechidae) Hina Nisar, Shah Alam Khan, Zafrullah Khan, Ahmad -Ur- Rahman Saljoqi, Saddam Hussain and Noor Muhammad Abstract The present study was conducted during 2009 at the month September-December to evaluate the susceptibility of four wheat cultivars against Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) at 28±2 °C, L: D 12:12 hours in laboratory. The results were evaluated on the basis of developmental period, total progeny, percent damage, percent weight loss, grain size and to record their correlation for susceptibility. The results revealed that none of the cultivar was completely immune to the attack of this pest. However their response varied significantly. Weight loss being main index of susceptibility, cultivar Uqab (24.67) was recorded susceptible followed by Saleem 2000 (21.99) and Ghaznawi (10.48) and the Fakhre-Sarhad (8.347) was recorded tolerant. The cultivar Fakhre-Sarhad was significantly tolerant against Sitotroga cerealella compared to the tested cultivars. Further research should to be done to screen and evaluate more cultivars against S. cerealella. Keywords: Wheat, Sitotroga cerealella, cultivars, susceptibility, resistance, life cycle 1. Introduction Wheat (Triticum aestivium L.) belong to family Graminae is one of the most important cultivated crops in the world. As a food component wheat is the prime source of protein and energy for living being [18] . In Pakistan wheat consumption is very high even ranked first among all cereals. Green revolution and autonomy in food production is a symbol of wheat cultivation on large area. With the introduction of modern techniques in agriculture wheat production highly elevated [4] .Wheat is produced about 90 percent throughout the world and most of this production is consumed by humans. The cultivation of wheat crop in Pakistan is on several million hectares areas to generate income for the agriculture community [2] . It is assessed that due to insect pest 5-10 percent loss occur during storage of the world wheat production. In tropical countries where temperature and humidity is high in summer season the losses increased up to 50 percent [18] . These losses have been reached up to 50% in tropical countries, where humidity and temperature run high in summers [3] . Every year 10-15 percent post-harvest of wheat crop occurs in Pakistan. Insects larvaes and adult are present in almost 75 percent samples collected from different areas [8, 5] . Several insect pest attack wheat during storage in Pakistan, i.e., lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominicia (F). Khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium Everts, granary weevil, Sitophilus granarius L.,), red flour beetle, and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) [19, 23] . Among these insect pest Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) is the serious threat to stored rice, maize and wheat [12, 20, 9, 7, 19] . Sitotroga cerealella female lay eggs singly or in group on grains in the field and thus the wheat infestation starts. The infestation of wheat with S. cerealella starts in the field as females lay their eggs singly or in groups on grains [11] . In the milk stage inside the grains the larvae start feeding and pass their life and detection of infection at this stage is very difficult. The S. cerealella adult insect make a visible hole at one end and coming out from the grain. The emerge adults are active and fly to infest other storages, therefore cause deterioration of seeds through fungal disease development which reduce germination [1] . Arthropods sample recorded from stored products at five different locations in Romania during 1989-91. It was observed that S. cerealella was one of the most harmful pests of stored product among arthropods [10] . In Pakistan, the pest has been reported to cause damage in most of cereals incurring heavy losses to the commodity [2, 14] .