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.

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.

Date palm borers become a serious threat to date palm plantations in Iraq, which required management program to suppress their population by using different methods; one of them is the light traps which disseminated in Basrah province. The objective of this trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of light traps as a part of pest management tool. In three years monitoring of coleopteran adults, rhinoceros beetles Oryctes spp. and longhorn date palm borer Jebusaea hammerschmidtii infesting the date palm Phoenix dactylifera were reported by using light traps in different regions of Basrah, Iraq. Due to the result of the abundance of the borers, Oryctes spp. were the most dominant and most important causing severe damage for the date palm. Four species of Oryctes (O. agamemnon, O. elegans, O. sahariensis and O. sinaicus) were recorded in Basrah date palm orchards; the seasonal activity of the species was between April and May, reaching the peaks during summer, and the populations decreased gradually till December. The overall sex ratios of all species of Oryctes spp. were male-biased except O. elegans, which had the sex ratio of 1.13 female: 1 male. Results revealed that the light traps exhibit an effective control method to suppress the adult borer’s population and as a physical control and monitoring tool of date palm stem borers.

No abstract