LAUSR

The pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Foerster, 1848) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is one of the most detrimental pests in commercial pear orchards. Varieties with low infestation level to pear psylla would offer to integrated psyllid management. The natural infestation level of six pear varieties to pear psylla was studied under field conditions during three successive years. The pear varieties consisted of ‘Comice’, ‘Buerre Giffard’, ‘Bonne Louise’, ‘Felestini’, ‘Shahmiveh’, and ‘Sebri’. Psyllid population was sampled weekly by limb jarring method and selecting 10 leaves randomly per tree. The results indicated that the size of the psyllid population on the tested pear varieties was significantly different (F 5, 30 = 816.18, p < 0.0001). ‘Shahmiveh’ and ‘Sebri’ showed high and low susceptible, respectively, to pear psylla infestation. The natural infestation level of C. pyricola was 37.01 % and 35.8 % lower on ‘Bonne Louise’ and ‘Sebri’, respectively, than on ‘Shahmiveh’. These varieties may be used for crossing in breeding programs to develop plant resistance to C. pyricola and may be exploited in integrated psyllid management.