Effect of insect infestation by Macrosiphoniella sanborni (Hemiptera: Aphididae)‎ and Frankliniella tritci (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)‎ on morphological characteristics of chrysanthemum flowers under glasshouse

Abstract EN

The aim of this resreach work is to study the comparison between effects of insect infestation by chrysanthemum aphid Macrosiphoniella sanborni (Gillete) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and ornamental plant thrips Frankliniella tritci (Fitch) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on some morphological characteristics of chrysanthemum flowers under glasshouse conditions at two locations in Cairo and Giza Governorates during 2018 seasons.

Morphological characteristics which studied were, color of the flower, number of the petals per flower, the flower diameter, weight of the flower, the stem length, vase life period (flowers life after picking) and annual production.

Results showed that the infestation by M.

sanborni (Aphid) and F.

tritci (Thrips) affected on all morphological characteristics except the color of the flowers.

The effect of infestation by aphid was higher than the effect of infestation by thrips, this is compared to control (chrysanthemum flowers did not infested by any insects).

Also, present study showed clearly that the effect of aphid and thrips infestation concentration on the vascular pundles of the flowers petals and with the increase in the infestation by the two insects and the damage in the vascular bundles increases.