Date palms are erect Palm bushes within the Arecaceae household that develop for his or her edible date fruit. Dates are often present in desert environments. There are virtually 220 forms of dates, about which 20 are commercially worthwhile. Amongst few crops, it grows nicely within the desert. Normally, the peak of a date palm tree is 21 to 23 meters, and it might probably stay for as much as 150 years.

The tree grows single or kinds a clump with a number of stems. The leaves have a size of 4 to six meters and have spines on the petiole. The dimensions of the leaflets is 30 cm and a pair of cm in width. The leaves are feather-like with spiny petioles and thick midrib. The leaf blades are pinnately divided and are blue-green.

The uppermost leaves of the crown stand extra erect whereas the decrease ones droop and recurve towards the trunk. The tree produces small, aromatic cream-white flowers, and the inflorescence might possess as many as 10,000 flowers. Beneath are the generally occurring pests and illnesses in dates crop. Preserve conscious of those pests and illness Management strategies to stop yield losses and crop high quality.

management pests and illnesses in date plam

Main insect pests of date palm

Lesser date moth

Lesser date moth is a vital insect pest of date palm infesting fruits. If not correctly managed, this pest may cause greater than 50% crop loss in date palms. The grownup moths have a wing span of 10 to 14 mm. The entrance wings are lanceolate with brownish scales. The hind wings are slender, gentle gray, and long-fringed. The eggs are small, pale yellow, laid singly on the flowers and immature fruits. The larvae, when absolutely grown, are about 10 to 12 mm lengthy. The pinnacle and the prothorax are gentle browns, whereas the remainder of the physique is translucent white. 

Injury signs

• It assaults the date fruits and causes heavy losses. There are three generations of this insect per 12 months. It seems in April, whereas the fruits are within the unripe stage, and stays until September.
• The primary stage of this pest is the larva, which assaults the fruits by growing an entry gap and feeding on their inside pulp, inflicting their shell shade to vary into purple, a transparent symptom of infestation. 
• The fruits stay connected to the racemes by silken threads woven by the insect or drop off on the bottom across the base of the palm. In lots of circumstances, the infested inexperienced fruits had dropped earlier than the larva consumed their whole inside pulp. 
• Normally, the contaminated fruits drop off as a result of mechanical components such because the winds shaking the racemes or every other such side. When the inner tissues of the infested fruits had been examined, the presence of larva was typically revealed

Biological  management

• Use organic, low-toxicity pesticides, which have zero affect on the setting.
• It additionally contains utilizing and preserving pure enemies akin to Bracon brevicornis Phanerotoma ocularis.

Chemical management

• Chemical management isn’t efficient except insecticide is utilized early within the season on the time of pollination, ideally utilizing a pyrethroid to mud the fruit fronds. A twig could also be wanted 2–3 weeks following pollination. 
• Alternatively, A formulation primarily based on a combination of equal elements of wheat flour and pollen grains containing chlorpyrifos, fenitrothion, or pirimiphos-methyl (all at 5 mg kg−l) was dusted onto feminine clusters of dates on the time of pollination. 
• Outcomes confirmed that, by this system, all three pesticides successfully managed the pest however that fenitrothion and chlorpyrifos have been higher than pirimiphos-methyl.

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White scale

In most international locations, it’s a important difficulty in date palm farming. A number of insect pests, akin to purple palm weevil, lesser date moth, termites, date scales, and mealy bugs, are the main pests in date palms. Amongst these, the white date palm scale Parlatoria blanchardii is without doubt one of the most damaging pests. The Feminine lays its eggs below the defend. Adults and nymphs of this insect feed on leaves sap. A excessive degree of infestation causes important harm, ensuing within the early dropping of leaves and yield discount.

Symptoms of white scale

• White scales trigger extreme harm to younger palms between two to eight years of age.
• They’re sucking in nature. Nymphs and adults suck the cell sap (meals) from the underside of the leaf, midribs, and dates. 
• Underneath excessive infestation, leaflets grow to be yellowish in look and trigger the untimely loss of life of the branches. 
• Because of its assault, respiration and photosynthesis are extremely affected, inflicting early loss of life of the infested leaf.
•  It additionally causes much less manufacturing and assaults fruit that isn’t marketable.

Biological management

• Horticultural oil sprays are the most secure and best solution to management scale. Oil is current in these pesticides and may combine with water. The oil coats the dimensions bugs and clogs their respiratory holes when sprayed onto infested bushes.
• Useful bugs obtainable commercially, akin to ladybugs, lacewing, soldier beetles, and parasitic wasps, are pure enemies of the early larval or crawler stage. 

Chemical management

• The chemical compounds considerably diminished the dimensions infestation (at 0.05 % degree), however carbosulfan 25 EC confirmed most discount in each software strategies, i.e., direct spray and basin software. Nonetheless, the direct spray methodology was extra environment friendly than the basin software.

Purple scale

The purple date scale is native to North Africa and the Center East however has been discovered virtually all over the place. Grownup females are small, spherical-shaped bugs with a physique size of roughly 1 to 1.5 mm and diminished or absent legs. Grownup females are purple to reddish-brown and could also be discovered embedded in a mass of white cottony wax on plant tissue. Wax kinds across the physique and sometimes covers it as curly, shining white strands. Eggs are easy, oval, and pinkish. 

Damaging signs

• Because of its assault, date palm leaves grow to be tiny, and minute and greyish scales seem with darker midpoints. This darker spot is oval. 
• Underneath its extreme assault, full protection of the leaf surfaces is seen by scales, which in the end causes intrusion into the plant’s metabolic features (particularly photosynthesis). 
• Attacked leaves and tissues could also be broken to some millimeters. This scale initiates on roots underground. Detection the purple scale isn’t as simple as different scales because it has a pure tendency to cover.
• This pest can assault all of the uncovered parts of the date palm. 

Biological management

• A number of species of parasitoid wasps and ladybirds can be utilized as organic management brokers. An issue, nevertheless, is that the purple scale is usually guarded by ants, which receive honeydew from them.
• A brisk wash spray of water can even assist take away scales and scale back populations. Publicity of host roots to moist warmth and scorching water has been reported as a potential therapy

Chemical management

• The widespread use of chemical compounds to regulate purple scales has led to many circumstances of resistance in opposition to pesticides akin to chlorpyrifos and methidathion. 
• Consequently, many growers now use insect development regulators akin to buprofezin and Pyriproxyfen. Nonetheless, these can result in secondary pest infestations.

Illness in date farming

Bayoud illness

A fungus known as Fusarium oxysporum f sp albedinis transmits the bayoud, inflicting speedy dieback and drying. Zagora-Morocco was the primary place to report this illness in 1870. Nonetheless, there had already been a big affect on a number of date plantations by 1940. Later, this illness affected all Moroccan palm groves and people of the western and central Algerian Sahara. If Bayou illness is current in giant city facilities, the illness can typically trigger spectacular harm.

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Illness signs

• It assaults mature and younger palms and their offshoots at their bases. A palm leaf of the center crown exhibits the primary indicators of the illness.
• In a specific means, this leaf takes on a leaden hue (ash grey) earlier than altering to white: some pinnae or spines on one aspect wither progressively from the bottom to the apex.
• After one aspect is affected, the whitening begins on the opposite aspect, progressing in the other way from the highest 
• From the bottom to the tip of the frond, a brown stain seems lengthwise on the rachis dorsal aspect.
• Following this, the frond reveals a attribute arch resembling a moist feather and hangs down alongside the trunk. It might take a number of days to a number of weeks for the pinnae to be whitened and dyed.

Chemical management and administration

It’s a priori unattainable to deal with these kinds of illnesses with soil therapy, so they need to be prevented. Nonetheless, if a wholesome space is found to have main sources of an infection, chemical management could be efficient. On this case, an eradication method must be used: palms must be uprooted and burned instantly. Then the soil must be handled with methyl bromide or chloropicrin, and replanting is prohibited till additional discover.

Black scorch illness

Also called Medjnoon or Idiot’s illness, black scorch is attributable to Ceratocystis paradoxa (Hohn), the right type of Thielaviopsis paradoxa. Date palms have been noticed with black scorch worldwide in all date-growing areas.

Symptoms

• There are often 4 distinct signs: black scorch on the leaves, inflorescence blight, coronary heart rot, and bud rot on palms of all ages.
• All infections lead to partial or full necrosis of tissues. The everyday lesions are darkish brown to black, arduous, and carbonaceous, they usually seem like scorched charcoal on petioles, fruit strands, and fruit stalks.
• Essentially the most extreme type of decay happens when it assaults the terminal bud and coronary heart, in the end ensuing within the palm’s loss of life. Nonetheless, in some circumstances, palms get better by growing lateral buds from unhurt meristematic tissue.
• There’s a attribute bend within the area of an infection on these palms. The identify Medjnoon derives from this truth. Consequently, common development is ready again a number of years.

Chemical management and administration

• Controlling black scorch begins with good sanitation.
• Pruning, accumulating and burning the affected fronds, leaf bases, and inflorescences must be carried out instantly.
• Prune cuts and surrounding tissues must be protected with Bordeaux mixtures, lime-sulfur options, copper sulfate lime mixtures, dichlone, thiram, or any new copper-based fungicides.
• It is suggested to burn palms affected by a extreme assault.

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Diplodia illness

The Diplodia illness, attributable to Diplodia phoenicum (Sacc), has been reported on 20 date varieties worldwide, though it appears prevalent within the Deglet Nour selection. The illness is attributable to Diplodia pinea infecting inclined crops. Saphaeropsis sapinea is one other identify for this fungus. Date palms 25 years or older are extra inclined to the illness. It’s as a result of youthful bushes are extra proof against the illness. Nonetheless, if youthful bushes develop on poor websites or are positioned near affected bushes, they might grow to be contaminated.

Symptoms

• Symptoms on offshoots lead to loss of life both whereas connected to the mom palm or as soon as indifferent and planted.
• The fungus might kill youthful leaves and the terminal bud, or the central cluster might be contaminated and die earlier than the older leaves. Leaf bases are coated with yellowish-brown streaks.
• In older palms, the ventral mid-portion of the leaves is usually affected, with yellowish-brown streaks extending alongside the leaf base and rachis. Nonetheless, the higher a part of the leaves should still seem inexperienced and unaffected.

Chemical management and administration

The fungus often enters the palm via the injuries made throughout pruning or slicing when eradicating the offshoots. Due to this fact, one precaution is to disinfect all slicing surfaces and instruments. It has been discovered efficient to dip or spray the offshoots with chemical compounds akin to benomyl, Bordeaux combination, methylthiophanate, thiram, and different copper-based fungicides.

Graphiola leaf spot

Graphiola leaf spot, additionally known as “false smut” is a foliar pathogen of sure palm species. This illness is occurred because of the fungal pathogen Graphiola phoenicis. It’s a distinctive fungus, each in look and life cycle, however it’s broadly distributed all through the date palm-growing world. Whereas quite a few palm species have been recognized as hosts of this fungus, the illness is most prevalent in Florida on date palm species, such because the Canary Islands date palm and date palm. It’s not often noticed on wild date palms.

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Symptoms

• The preliminary signs of the illness are very tiny (1/32 inch or much less) yellow, brown, or black spots on each side of the leaf blade. Due to this fact, they’re simply missed with out shut statement. 
• Date palm fronds have a typical lifespan of 6-8 years, however the Graphiola illness reduces that lifespan to three years and closely contaminated leaves die prematurely, lowering the palm’s yield.
• The fungus will emerge from these spots, rupturing the leaf floor. The ensuing fungal reproductive buildings are mostly noticed and obscure true signs.

Chemical management and administration

• Management measures embrace leaf pruning and therapy with Bordeaux combination or any giant spectrum fungicide mancozeb, cupric hydroxide + maneb, and cupric hydroxide.
• Alternatively, copper oxychloride + maneb + zineb; 3 to 4 purposes on a 15-day schedule after sporulation have been advisable. 

Khamedj illness

Khamedj is a severe illness affecting most date-growing areas of the previous world. Mauginiella scattae Cav., which causes the illness, is at all times present in a pure state in affected tissues. It causes harm to inflorescences in uncared for palm groves in scorching and humid areas or areas with extended intervals of heavy rain 2 to three months earlier than the emergence of spathes. There’s an estimated lack of 30 – 40 kg of fruits per 12 months if the illness recurs on the identical palm with the identical depth every year.

Symptoms

• Brownish or rusty-colored patches seem on the exterior floor of unopened spathes as the primary seen symptom of the illness. Nonetheless, the fungus is most evident on the inner face of the spathe, the place it has already begun to contaminate it.
• Once they break up, there’s a partial or full destruction of flowers and strands of the contaminated spathes.
• Severely broken spathes can stay closed, and their inside contents could also be fully contaminated.
• In the course of the dry season, the inflorescences grow to be coated with powdery fructifications of the fungus.

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Chemical management and administration

• Khamedj illness regularly seems in uncared for date plantations, indicating that good sanitation and environment friendly upkeep are important for controlling it.
• As soon as all inflorescences and spathes have been collected and burned, the diseased palms must be handled with the next fungicides after harvest and one month earlier than spathe emergence:
• Bordeaux combination or a copper (1/3)
• Sulfate-lime (2/3) combination
• 3 % Dichlon spray
• 4 % thiram spray on the fee of 8 liters per palm 
• with benomyl and Tuzet on the fee of 125 g/ha.

Conclusion

These pests and illnesses considerably have an effect on the yield and yield high quality. Nonetheless, correct administration and management strategies mentioned above can management and forestall pests and illnesses and scale back the detrimental impact on yields.

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