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.
Five species of Trogoderma Berthold are reported from Iraq. These are: I inclus,n LeCont. T.
granarium Everts, T. variable Ballion. I. bactrianum Zantiev and T. irroraturn Reitter. A key
to the species is presented, with redeseriptions and illustrations of all species.
The percentage of fatty acids, quantity of tocopherols, tocotrienols, carotens and physiochemical characteristics of crude red palm oil have been evaluated, in addition to specific chemical detection of active compounds unsaponifiable matters. Results of Gas Liquid Chromatography showed:- The major fatty acids in red palm oil is palmitic (44.36%) then oleic (39.65%), linolenic (10.55%), stearic (3.56%), myristic (1.22%), arachdonic (0.24%) and palmotic (0.19%). Red palm oil contains ? – ?- ?- ? – Tocopherols with concentration 258 , 121 , 259, 109 m/kg oil , ? – ?- ?- ? – Tocotrienol with concentration 462.77 , 571.03, 619.18, 509.07 m/kg oil respectively. Total tocopherols & tocotrienols 2909.05 m/kg oil and
... Show MoreThe ground pearls, Porphyrophora tritici (Bod.) is a new insect pest on wheat recorded for
the first time from Mousl Province, North of Iraq.
Traditional tree management is laborious and costly, thus this work aimed to study the performance of two different types of frond cutting saws (reciprocating saw and vibrating saw) and examine the two saws on five date palm varieties. Four parameters were examined, including cutting time for a single frond, the power needed for cutting a single frond, frond cutting productivity expressed as tree/h, and vibration conveyed to the worker’s hand. A field experiment was designed according to the nested randomized complete block design, including five date palm varieties as the main plot and the type of saw as a sub-plot. Means were compared using the least significant differences (LSD 0
In this research, the effect of reinforcing epoxy resin composites with a filler derived from chopped agriculture waste from oil palm (OP). Epoxy/OP composites were formed by dispersing (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%) OP filler using a high-speed mechanical stirrer utilizing a hand lay-up method. The effect of adding zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles, with an average size of 10-30 nm, with different wt% (1,2,3, and 5wt%) to the epoxy/oil palm composite, on the behavior of an epoxy/oil palm composite was studied with different ratios (1,2,3, and 5wt%) and an average size of 10-30 nm. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and mechanical properties (tensile, impact, hardness, and wear rate) were used to examine the composites. The FTIR
... Show MoreThe nigra scale, Parasaissetia nigra (Nietner, 1861) (Hemiptera, Coccidae) recorded as a new insect pest attacking fig trees, Ficus carica (Moraceae) in Iraq. It was observed during April 2014 in residential garden at Al-Hurriyah district in Baghdad.
Aniera desert/cola was found new to science and to the Iraqi fauna. The description was
mainly based on external features and male genit
A new species of the family Carabidae, subfamily Harpalinae was introdIle7: (1 or a Acupalpus mesopota¬micus on the basis external morphology and male genctalia. The specimens were compared with a world collection of Acupalptis of the British Museum (N. H.) Holotype was kept at the Iraq Natural History Museum. Other 12 specimens were kept in Iraq Natural History Museum.
In this study, the dung beetles Aphodius (Bodilus) ictericus (Laicharting, 1781) and Aphodius (Planolinellus) vittatus Say, 1825 which belongs to the family of Aphodiidae (Order: Coleoptera) are redscribed here as to being found for the first time in Iraq.
The specimens were collected from different regions in the middle of Iraq; the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features of males were drawn and pictured.