Susceptibility of date palm fruit cultivars to the natural infestation by Oligonychus afrasiaticus (Mcg) (Acari: Tetranychidae) in relation to their chemical composition

Susceptibility of date palm fruit cultivars to the natural infestation by Oligonychus afrasiaticus (Mcg.) (Acari: Tetranychidae) in relation to their chemical composition BY A.G. Ali and Saleh, A. Aldosari Departement of Plant Protection, College of scince food and Agrculture, King Saudi Univercity, Riyadh, 11451, Box, 2460, Kingdom Saudi Arabia Abstract       The susceptibility of date palm fruits of six cultivars (Sokary, Rothan, Moonifie, Sefrie, Cebiky and Khodary) to natural infestation by the Oligonychus afrasiaticus (Mcg.) and the effect of their qualitative and chemical composition on infestation, were studied at Riadh region in two inspection date, on May 15^th and the second after forty days in season 2004. Results indicated that date fruit cultivars (Sokary and Rothan) appeared as highly susceptible (H.S.). However, cultivar of Cebiky seemed as resistant (R), while the cultivar of Khodary appeared as moderate resistant (MR) to the infestation by this mite species. Also, the results indicated that differences between the date mite infestation and date fruit contents of different cultivars (lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and ash), were insignificant. Besides, the results showed significant negative correlation between infestation and carbohydrate content of date fruits (amounts of sucrose, glucose, fructose, fats and ash). However, significant positive correlation was found between infestation and proteins content.