SPECIES COMPOSITIONS AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF INSECT PESTS ASSOCIATED WITH STORED MAIZE IN DERA ISMAIL KHAN AND ITS ADJACENT PUNJAB AREAS

A vast survey of government and private godowns was conducted during december, 2014- 2016 from dera ismail khan and its adjacent punjab areas to find out the species composition and infestation level of insect pests associated with stored maize. maize weevil, sitophilus zeamais (motschulsky) followed by confused flour beetle (tribolium confusum), lesser grain borer (rhiozopertha dominica), grain moth (sitotroga cerealella), rice weevil (sitophilus oryzae) and maize weevil parasitoid (anisopteromalus calandrae) were the major insect pests and beneficial of stored maize in the study area. the collected species belonged to three different orders i.e. coleoptera, lepidoptera and hymenoptera. all the surveyed locations had infestation of s. zeamais during january to november, 2015 and 2016 and no infestation of the targeted insects during the month of december, 2014 and 2015. the infestation of the maize weevil started to build up during january and reached at peak during the month of may. during the extreme hot months of june and july the population of the pest was at decline. among the visited locations, dera ismail khan and its adjacent areas had higher population of s. zeamais as compared to its adjacent punjab areas during the study period. the population of parasitoid, a. calandrae started to build up during the month of april and reached at peak during the month of june, whereas; it was minimum during july-august. among the surveyed locations, comparatively higher percent parasitization was found in dera ismail khan and lower in paharpur and darya khan areas. overall, dera ismail khan (kpk) had highest, whereas; notak and bhakkar areas (punjab) had lowest population of a. calandrae during the surveyed period. the maximum percentage grain damage (37.51%) and weight losses (33.23%) were recorded in dera ismail khan whereas; minimum percent infestation and weight loss was recorded in paroa area.