SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

Scientific Papers, USAMV Bucharest, Series A, Vol. LII, 2009, ISSN 1222-5339PRELIMINARY STUDY REGARDING IMPORTANCE OF SPECIESHELICOVERPA ARMIGERA Hb. FOR MAIZE CULTURE IN ROMANIAI. ROŞCAUniversity of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of BucharestKeywords: Helicoverpa armigera Hb.,attack percentage, attack intensityAbstractHelicoverpa armigera Hb., is a pest which has the tendency to become one of the mostdangerous pest in Romanian maize fields, it is known under different names from which themost common is fruit worm of tomatoes or worm of maize ear etc. Species is pollyphagousand a major pest for more than 120 species. At maize, larvae eat initially silk and after thatgrain in milk stage from top of ear, creating empty places in distal zone of ear, beingsituations in which larva bored the middle of ear. Characteristic for this pest, in Romania,is attack of maize cultures, especially in warm and dry years when Helicoverpa armigera ismanifested through attack on leaves, ears, silk and grains. After this attack many of earswere infected with different moulds, increasing possibilities of infestation with mycotoxins.Romania, with 3 millions hectares of maize, is the most important country affected byHelicoverpa armigera Hb. in Europe. It was registered percentage of ears attack and theintensity of attack and results shows a different attack depending on area, hybrids and typeof hybrids. It wasn’t a correlation between Helicoverpa attack and production. Frequencyof attacked plants attend, at Timisoara 82.3%, and attack note 1.73. It is discussed theimportance of pest.424