OCCURRENCE OF PESTS IN MAIZE CROP ACCORDING TO THE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.

In recent years, the pest attack on the maize crop has proven to be a huge problem for all farmers in Romania, both from the point of view of the technological base and from the perspective of the pesticides used. Due to the long monoculture of the maize crop, a major increase in the attack of Tanymecus dilaticollis and the larvae of Ostrinia nubilalis and Helicoverpa armigera was found. However, not only monoculture or the impossibility, respectively the limited possibilities of combating pests favored their multiplication, but also climatic factors. In recent years, the temperatures during the winter are very advantageous for pests, the winters being quite mild from the point of view of low temperatures. The aim of the present paper is to present the influence of climatic conditions of the year from South Romania regarding the moment of appearance of pests and their density in the maize crop. The research was done in the southern part of the Romania, in Giurgiu County, Putineiu village, in the years 2022 and 2023, and they showed that the occurrence of pests as well as the pest density is significantly influenced by the temperature conditions. Thus, the appearance of pests occurs much early and their density is much higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]