Natural enemies associated with some economic pests in Egyptian agro-ecosystems

Abstract

No doubt, there are changes in insect pest problems facing the farmers in the newly reclaimed land as well as in the old valley in Egypt due to different reasons, e.g., pesticide misuse and pest resistance, secondary pest outbreaks, absence or inefficient presence of natural enemies, and climate changes. Since the 1990s, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation emphasizes to spread the philosophy of integrated pest management (IPM) among the farmers to utilize all suitable means, techniques, and approaches for maintaining pest population levels below those causing economic losses. Among these means is understanding the role of natural enemies in the agro-ecosystem to preserve and encourage their presence and enhance their role in suppressing pest populations as a main factor among the IPM strategies. Thus, it is of essential need to know more about the existing natural enemies associated with the key pests of the economic crops representing different agro-ecosystems in Egypt to develop a successful utilization of biological control agents within the frame of such IPM programs. Thus, it was found necessary to update their recent status as natural resources in various agro-ecosystems. These data are considered a review article eagerly needed for strategies of IPM of serious insect and mite pests in Egypt. The role of the biological control agents, mainly parasitoids and predators in different economic crops, is highlighted.

Insect fauna of pests and their natural enemies inhabiting sorghum-panicles in Egypt

“…These parasitoids have not been recorded before on the studied pests. These parasitoids were recorded in Egypt by El-Khawas et al (2000) and El-Husseini et al (2018) who recovered B. aegyptiaca from Palpita unionalis (Crambidae: Lepidoptera) and El-Moursy et al (2001) collect N. floralis from Northern Sinai, Egypt.…”

“…About 21% of chalcidid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are classified in the genus Brachymeria Westwood (Noyes 2017). El-Khawas et al (2000) and El-Husseini et al (2018) recorded B. aegyptiaca on the olive pest, Palpita unionals (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), that feeds on olive's buds in Egypt. The dipteran parasitoid, Nemorilla floralis, was also recorded by El-Moursy et al (2001), as a cocoon parasitoid of the noctuid Autographa gamma collected from Northern Sinai, Egypt.…”

Pathogenicity of indigenous Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) against Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) under laboratory conditions

“…EPF have received a considerable interest from scientists for their efficacy against crop pests and their biological control potential. The laboratory work serves as an initial indicator for the selection of fungal isolates as effective biocontrol agents in terms of their pathogenicity, specialization and ease of production and adaptation to environmental conditions (El-Husseini et al 2018;Sayed et al 2019).…”

Biodiversity and Population Dynamics of Natural Enemies in the Western Desert Agro-Ecosystem, Egypt

“…To maximize the services from biodiversity, species richness ought to be the maximum amount of importance as species abundance (Duelli and Obrist, 2003). The presence of insect pests, global climate change, absence of natural enemies, and the use of pesticides is a serious drawback facing farmers in a new land (El-Husseini, et al 2018). In brief, agriculture includes a tall level of reliance on the complete extends of biological system administrations.…”