The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) is a devastating invasive pest of palm trees, invading the Iraqi date palm tree in 2015 for the first time in Safwan county, Basrah province. The Red Palm weevil has been categorized as a quarantine pest of date palm trees worldwide. In this study, a five years monitoring program has been achieved by scouting the invasive pest RPW population in Safwan county by using visual sampling and Pheromone baited traps. The results indicated that the number of infested palms, increased from 12 trees in 2015 to 111 in 16 orchards in 2016. The number of the infested palms was minimized to 3 trees in the county in 2019 due to the management protocol of the Ministry of Agriculture. Furthermore, the results of RPW adults appeared monthly in the county with two activity peaks during the moderate-temperature-months. In conclusion, the quarantine and management protocol of RPW decreased the population of the invasive pest which did not spread to other districts of Iraq.

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of some neonicotinoid insecticides including, Actara 25 WDG (foliar and soil treatment), Confidor 200 SL, Calypso 480 SC, Polo, Confidor 5 G against cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci on Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) during the growing season of 2018. The results revealed that the highest population of the adults was concentrated on the upper leaves at the new growth of the plant, while the majority of nymphs were found on the middle leaves of the plant, and the females preferred to lay the eggs on the upper leaves because the highest proportion of eggs was found on the upper leaves. The foliar application of Actara and confidor were significantly effective against the whiteflies after one day of treatment. While the soil treatments of the Actara and Confidor showed the least efficiency at one day after the treatment; all treatments except Polo were significantly superior over control in decreasing the population of the nymphs at the day 14 after the treatment. Polo did not show any efficiency in the reduction of the number of live nymphs. The data on efficacy of the tested neonicotinoid insecticides against the B. tabaci on the eggplant under the greenhouse showed different efficiency according to the treatment method. At one day after the application, foliar spraying of Actara and Calypso were the most efficient; and the efficacy of all tested insecticides increased up to the day 14 after application, and foliar treatment of Actara gave the highest efficacy after 14 days.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) is an important vegetable crop in Iraq. This horticultural crop is attacked by several insect pest species. Among them, the white y Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and the tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) are the major threat of greenhouse tomatoes in Basrah province in south Iraq. The management of these pests is heavily based on application of chemical pesticides. Vast application of pesticides caused harmful damage to the environment, human health and may increasing the risk of pest resistance on insect populations. One of the promising strategies which are compatible with organic farming is application of silicon for enhancing plant vigor and resistance to pest damage on various agricultural crops. Due to these facts, the experiments have been carried out at Basrah University to evaluate the effects of silicon (Si) fertilization on tomato plants for reducing damage of these two major pests. Treatments comprised two type of Si applications (Soil drench treatment and foliar spraying) with four Si concentrations (0, 0.5, 1 and 2%) of AB Yellow ® silicic acid formulation. The population density of B. tabaci and T. absoluta were studied weekly during the growth season. The results clearly demonstrated that Silicon applications signi cantly decreased the population of immature of both white ies and tomato leaf miner on tomato crop in the greenhouse; Si-Foliar spraying was more effective in reducing the population density of these key pests compared to Si-soil drench application.

The Lesser Date Moth (LDM) Batrachedra amydraula (Lepidoptera: Batrachedridae) is a serious pest of fruits of date palm trees that causes economic losses in nearly all growing regions globally. As one of the main methods for controlling this pest, the overuse of broad-spectrum insecticides is applied. Population sampling methods are fundamental in the chemical control-based IPM system, minimizing the negative effects of insecticides on the environment. A tentative sampling method for LDM is recommended; however, conventional sampling schemes are complained due to the time-consuming. Alternatively, binomial sequential sampling plans are often more efficient and may allow samplers to fast classify pest infestations and make a control decision. The objectives of this study were to determine the spatial distribution and develop binomial sequential sampling for fast reliable estimation of LDM infestation on date palms. Throughout the province of Basra, Iraq, eighty-four 1 ha date palm orchards were sampled from 2017 to 2019. The results of spatial distribution pattern analyses by using TPL (a = 0.0695 and b = 1.4041) indicated that LDM on sampling units (date palm spikelets) were highly aggregated in date palm orchards. The mean vs. proportion infested (PT-m) (T= 0 to 5) models for LDM infesting sampling units (spikelets) revealed relatively strong fits for LDM. Binomial sequential sampling models for LDM infesting date palms were developed for action thresholds of 0.15, 0.25, and 0.35 proportions of spikelets with at least three infested fruit (T=3). Binomial sequential sampling plans were validated using RVSP software by the evaluation of operating characteristic functions and average sample number. We recommend a minimum sample size of 28 and sampling efforts should be terminated at 90 samples for these sampling plans.

Field and laboratory studies were conducted to assess the sensitivity of 12 varieties of local wheat varieties (IPA-95, IPA-99, Abu-Ghreib, Babel-113, Bhooth-10, Bhooth-22, and Bhooth-158, Baraka, Tammuz, Fatih, Latifia and Rasheed) against infestation by Greenbug Shizaphis graminum and Bird-Cherry Oat Aphid Rhopalosihum padi in the province of Basrah. The field trial was carried out in Al-Nashwa district, county of Shatt Al-Arab, during the growing season 2019/2020. The first infestation of R. padi appeared on 9/1/2020, and reached the peak of population density on 30/1/2020, while the first appearance of S. graminum was on 17/1/2020; it reached its peak on 13/2/2020. The results of responses of local wheat varieties to the infestation of Greenbug showed that the highest average population density of greenbug was on Bhooth-158, Abu-Ghraib, Bhooth-22, and Babel-113 reaching 51.59, 17.84, 16.41, and 16.63 aphids/plant, respectively. Whereas the lowest population densities were at Fatih, Tammuz, Bhooth-10, Rasheed, and IPA-99, with averages of 8.28, 8.09, 8.87, 7.19, and 7.62 aphids.plant-1, respectively. The highest density rate of R. padi was recorded on the cultivars IPA-95 and Abu-Ghraib, with an average of 139.83 and 169.31 aphids.plant-1 respectively, while the verities Bhooth-22, Bhooth-158, and IPA-99 recorded the lowest population density rate (89.03, 99.41, and 100.25 aphids.plant-1) compared to the other varieties. The results of the chemical analysis determined the proportions of some metabolites of the local wheat varieties and their relationship to the infestation of Greenbug and showed that phenols have an effective role by reducing the population density of aphids. The verities Rasheed and IPA-99 which recorded low population rates of the aphids have the highest rates of phenols at a rate of 7 and 6.78 mg.100g-1 dry weight Also, varieties Abu-Ghraib, IPA-99, and Rasheed cultivars recorded the highest productivity rates (weight of thousand grains), with an average of 33.47, 43, and 67.42 g, respectively.