Evaluating the Susceptibility of Some Wheat Varieties to Infestation of Khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium Everts) Under Storage Conditions

This study was conducted to evaluate the susceptibility of eighteen Iraqi wheat varieties against the infestation of Khapra beetle Trogoderma granaruimnine Everts; nine varieties of durum wheat  Triticum turgidum  Desf. (Um Rabei, Aksad65, Cham3. Bakrajo-1, Semeto, Creso, Baghdad2, Zain Turk, Sardar), and nine varieties of bread wheat  T. aestivum L. (Jihan99, Azza, Cham6, Tamuz2, Adnaniya, Adana, Ibaa99, Azadi, and Abu-Ghraib) were selected. Results showed that the Abu-Ghraib and Azza varieties were the most resistant to infested by the beetles; the total of insect’s population reached 4.8, and 5 insects.100 g-1 of wheat, respectively. Growth rate of 0 and 0.1 insect/month-1, loss of weight grains of 1.6 and 1.9 %, and the decreasing germination of grains (4.81, and 0.6)% were recorded for both varieties, respectively. While var. Semeto was susceptible to the infestation; the insect population attained 1238.8 insects.100 g-1 of wheat with a growth rate of 82.3 insect/month-1; also the loss of weight grains was 58.5 % and the loss of germination of grains increased to 84.3%. To conclude, this study demonstrated that the durum wheat showed higher susceptibility than bread varieties.