USE OF BIO-PESTICIDE - NEW DIMENSION AND CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE DATE PALM PRODUCTION

M. Kamil, M.A. Naji
According to the WHO, 1990 report, 25 million cases of acute occupational pesticides poisoning happen in developing countries each year. The environmental hazards resulting from half a century's intensive use of synthetic organic crop protection agents makes it imperative to consider alternative or complementary approaches to sustainable agricultural development and integrated pest management.
Date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L., is one of the oldest fruit trees in the world and is mentioned 20 times in the Quran and several times in the Bible. The number of the date palms is about 100 million worldwide, of which 62 million palms can be found in the Arab world. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate suitable and new plant extracts with eco-friendly activities against endoparasitic Larval Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliver, found in date palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera L). These weevils are so effective that even a single pest if present destroys the tissues of the trunk of the tree, resulting therein the falling of the palm tree. Biopesticides of plant origin could be the key to the future. Biopesticides, as aware, are an important group of pesticides that can reduce pesticide risks having a narrow target range and a very specific mode of action it suppresses, rather than eliminates, a pest population.
Biopesticides are inherently less harmful than conventional pesticides. Biopesticides are designed to affect only one specific pest or, in some cases, a few target organisms, in contrast to broad spectrum, conventional pesticides that may affect organisms as different as birds, insects and mammals. Biopesticides often are effective in very small quantities and often decompose quickly, thereby resulting in lower exposures and largely avoiding the pollution problems caused by conventional pesticides. When used as a component of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs, biopesticides can greatly decrease the use of conventional pesticides, while crop yields remain high. Biopesticides play an important role in providing pest management tools in areas where pesticide resistance and environmental concerns limit the use of chemical pesticide products. Keeping in view the above fact ZCHRTM worked on a Biopesticide Management Program.
Kamil, M. and Naji, M.A. (2010). USE OF BIO-PESTICIDE - NEW DIMENSION AND CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE DATE PALM PRODUCTION. Acta Hortic. 882, 95-102
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.882.10
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.882.10
Integrated Pest Management, Phoenix dactylifera, Cosmopolitan, Agricultural development, Arab world, Rhyncophorus ferrugineus Oliver
English

Acta Horticulturae