The Influence of Bunches Thinning and Pesticides on Some Traits and the Rate of Infection with Lesser Date Moth in Date Palm

Abstract

Abstract The experiment was carried out in one of the private palm orchards infested with the lesser date moth (Batrachedra amydraula Meyrick) in the village of AL-Bualay AL-Jassim 8 km northwest of Ramadi during the season 2020, with the aim of studying the influence of bunches thinning and pesticides on some of physical and chemical and productivity and rate of infection with lesser date moth on date palm. The results revealed that the thinning factors C1(6 bunch) and C2 (8 bunch) date palm-1 reduce rate of infestation of the lesser date moth after 14 days of spraying pesticides at rates of 20.80 and 23.10% compared to the control treatment (28.30%). The pesticide A2 (Matrixine plus) outperformed in reducing the rate of infection after 7, 14, 21 days with an average of 6.34, 16.10, and 26.10% respectively, these rates were increased in the control treatment (11.88 and 31.30 and 61.90%) respectively. On the other hand, treatments 6 and 8 bunch outperformed the control treatment in terms of fruit setting, increased ripening rate and reduced khalal ratio, with rates of (76.33 and 73.78%), (50.00 and 50.11%), and (50.00 and 50.00%) respectively. The results confirmed that there were no significant differences between the thinning treatments on the total yield between treatments and their interactions. When using the pesticide A2, it caused a significant increase in the rate of ripening and a decrease in the percentage of khalal with rates of 56.22 and 43.78% respectively. The results indicate outperformed of the thinning treatment C2 and pesticide treatment A2 in phosphor, nitrogen, and potassium percent in fruits with an average of (0.0806,0.0820%), (0.4022,0.3989%), and (0.6856,0.6933%) respectively. These values decreased in the control treatment by rates of (0.0766 and 0.0750%), (0.3767 and 0.3767%), and (0.6422 and 0.6356%) respectively.