IMPACT OF DATE PALM BORER SPECIES IN IRAQI AGROECOSYSTEMS

Abstract

Insect borers are serious pests of date palms in Iraq and many other date palm growing countries. These pests severely damage the trees, reduce the quantity and quality of dates and weakens the tree trunk and eventually fall down and completely destroyed. Field surveys were conducted during 2011- 2013 to explore the presence and distribution of different date palm borers species in governorates with wide area of date palm orchards. Results indicated the presence of six different borers, causing significant damages to date palm trees: Phonapate frontalis F., Jebusaea hammerschmidtii Reich., and four belong to Oryctes spp.: O. elegans Prell, O. agamemnon Burmeister, O. agamemnon matthiesseni Reitter and O. agamemnon arabicus Fairmaire, which is recorded for the first time in Iraq. The occurrence and population densities of these species were depicted, hence varies with different places of date palm orchards.