EFFECT OF SOME PLANT EXTRACTS ON THE POPULATION DENSITY OF Eurytoma amygdali AND THEIR IMPACT ON ALMOND PRODUCTION IN SULAIMANI PROVINCE

This study was performed in the College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sulaimani to study the effect of some plant extracts as safe alternatives for chemical pesticides. Different concentrations of natural plant extracts of rosemary, garlic lobes and cayenne pepper were prepared and sprayed to almond orchards infected by almond fruit wasp Eurytoma amygdali in Iraqi Kurdistan region during 2017. Evaluation results showed the effectiveness of some plant extracts in the control of this pest in almond orchards under the conditions of this experiment, since there were significant effects of these plant extracts on the lowering of population densities existed on infected almond fruits with 1.43, 1.44 and 1.67 infected fruit due to 5% aqueous extracts of garlic, cayenne pepper and rosemary, respectively compared to control 3.35 infected fruit. These extracts also had significant effects in the decreasing of fruit infection percentages 28.726, 41.789 and 41.985% and average fruit weight losses 18.124, 25.007 and 32.517% due to using plant extracts compared to control treatments 78.849% for fruit infection percentages and 73.182% for fruit weight losses. The obvious effectiveness of garlic extract 5% was also noticed in the lowering of infection percentage, population density and fruit weight loss percentage compared to control.