Pistachio psylla, Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer (Homoptera: Psyllidae) is a major pest of the cultivated pistachio trees, Pistacia vera L. in Iran. Sucking sap from leaves by both nymphs and adults reduced plant vigor, defoliation, stunting, bud drop, also producing a large amount of honey dew. Currently the main control measure of this pest is based on insecticides which are used 8-10 times per season. Monitoring the population density of the pest can determine the proper time of pesticide spraying and reduce the amount of pesticides used, and it is also needed for organic pest control strategies. Yellow sticky card traps have been shown useful to detect and gauge the relative abundance of A. pistaciae, but specific information on the effect of geographical direction and cultivar on the capture of adult pistachio psylla in the region is not known. During the growth season of 2009, an adult population of pistachio psylla was monitored at different geographical direction on ‘Ohadi’, ‘Sefid’, ‘Akbari’, ‘Ghermez’ and ‘Kale ghoochi’ commercial female cultivars of Pistacia vera L. and male tree as control in Mahvelat region (Razavi Khorasan province). Five traps were placed at the same height (2 m above the ground) and in the four cardinal directions of each tree as well as one trap in the middle of the canopy (30 traps in each replicate). After 2 weeks the trapped adults of psylla were counted. This procedure was repeated 8 times throughout the season. Data were subjected to analysis of variance. As result, there were differences among the position of yellow sticky card trap and cultivars, in terms of trapped adult psylla. The traps placed on either of two directions of south and east captured more adults than the other positions. Also, it was shown that some P. vera cultivars had significantly higher population of adult psylla throughout the season, namely ‘Sefid’, ‘Akbari’, ‘Kale ghoochi’, ‘Ghermez’ and ‘Ohadi’.

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