Six recently developed peanut cultivars, along with the commercially known cultivar Tatu, were evaluated for thrips infestation in field experiments carried out at the Instituto Biológico Experimental Station, State of São Paulo, Brazil, during the 1992/93 and 1993/94 growing seasons. The experiments were arranged in a completely randomized block design with seven treatments (cultivars IAC-Poitara, IAC-Oirã, IAC-Tupã, IAC-Caiapó, IAC-Jumbo, Botutatu and Tatu) and four replications. Thrips evaluations were made at weekly intervals by counting the number of nymphs and adults in samples of forty leaflets per plot. The results of 1992/93 showed that the cultivars IAC-Caiapó and IAC-Jumbo, both of runner growing habit, were significantly less infested then the others. In the 1993/94 experiment, with a lower total thrips infestation, these cultivars were significantly less infested than the others, except when compared to the cultivar Tatu.
peanut; cultivars; thrips