The effect of palm varieties on the population density of the white scale insect Parlatoria blanchardi Trag. ( Homoptera: Coccinea: Diaspididae)

Abstract

This study was conducted on the white scale insect Parlatoria blanchardi in the northern area of ​​Basra Governorate/Al-Majidiyah, where four varieties of palm trees were tested: Barhi, Sayer, Halawi and Khadrawi. Laboratory experiments were carried out in the laboratories of the Plant Protection Department/ College of Agriculture/University of Basra for the period from November 2022 to December 2023. The results showed that the variety with the highest population density of the insect is the Halawi variety for the months of December, January, February, March and April, and the population density was 217.1, 185.4, 126.1, 109.2 and 76.8 insects / inch2, respectively, and the Sayer variety had the lowest population density, as it was 61.9, 77.7, 73.7, 55.2, 21.7 and 26.1 insects / inch2 throughout the study period. The results showed that the upper surface of the palm leaf (Khosah) had a higher population density of the white scale insect by 167.3 insects/inch2 compared to the lower surface by 103.4 insects/inch2 for the studied varieties with a significant difference during the study period from November 2022 to April 2023. The study indicates that the Barhi variety is superior in the highest percentage of total chlorophyll, which reached 2.48 mg/g, and the lowest percentage of chlorophyll in the Sayer variety, 1.65 mg/g. For the phenolic content, the Sayer variety was superior in the highest phenolic content, which reached 20.47 mg/100 g, and the lowest phenolic content in the Halawi variety, which reached 20.24 mg/100 g. The highest wax content was recorded, reaching (2.773) mg/g for the Sayer variety, and the highest wax content was recorded for the Halawi variety, reaching (1.06) mg/g.