Damage of Sunn Pest Eurygaster integriceps Put. on to Wheat Quality in Israel - Abstract
Sunn pest Eurygaster integriceps Put. on is one of the most serious factors affected the gluten quality of wheat grain in Israel. The object of this study was to evaluate the damage of sunn pest to wheat quality of some cultivars of spring wheat. Field experiments were conducted in three cultivars with a different phenology: Zahir - early ripening, Bar-Nir - medium, Ruta - later ripening. The isolated by net plots were infested by unsexed wintering adults of sunn pest. The isolated uninfested plots serve as a control. The sunn pest’s effects on quantitative parameters of wheat quality, such as thousand kernels weight, test weight, and the effects on gluten quality and quantity, such as gluten index, IDK test, wet gluten content, were examined. In addition, samples at varying degrees of the bug-damaged kernels were constructed in order to examine the quality and quantity of gluten. A high level of bug-damaged kernels of 15-20% did not affect the thousand kernel weight and test weight of the three tested cultivars. At a very high level of bug-damaged kernels of 40-60%, the sunn pest caused a significant reduction in thousand kernels weight in Zahir and Ruta cultivars. Test weight decreased significantly in all three cultivars. A damage of up to 4% of the kernels has significantly affected gluten quality but not gluten content. The results of this study indicate that the cultivar of wheat is of high importance
for the level of the gluten quality and the degree of sunn pest’s damages