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Protect Your Date Crops from the Amri Date Moth Amri date Moth – Ephestia cautella (walk) (Fam. Pyralidae,Order: Lepidoptera)

Picture of Prof. Dr. Wael Kamal El Shafei

Prof. Dr. Wael Kamal El Shafei

Professor of pests of palm and dates

Amri date Moth – Ephestia cautella (walk) (Fam. Pyralidae,Order: Lepidoptera) Host range:

This insect is a multi-host insect that can infect dried fruits such as dates, peanuts, grain products, dried onions and many dried food products.

Economic importance:

It infests the fruits of dates in the field on palm trees, as well as the fallen dates, as well as infests the fruits of dates in the stores and restores their life cycle in the store, and the infestation with this insect paves the way for the infestation of the store pests. Mold.

Morphological description:

The whole insect: the moth  front wings are dark in color with two zigzag lines dividing the wing by 1:2 from the base. It is similar in size to the Indian corn groats moth.

Egg :  is spherical, 0.33 mm in diameter

Larva: The fully developed larva is 9.5-12.5 mm long, and its color is light with a reddish tint. It may be dirty white, turning greenish white before pupation. The male larva is distinguished by the presence of two brown spots on the dorsal surface of the posterior half of the larva’s abdomen.

Pupa: Yellow to light brown, 7:8 mm long.

Symptoms of infestation:

Dates are infested in the field and in the store, and the infestation begins in the field on the fallen dates under the palm trees at the end of August after the coloring stage, as these fruits shrink and the percentage of sugars rises, and the infestation continues in these fallen fruits and increases during storage. Infestation increases in dates without capsule than in dates with capsule. Dates are considered infested if they contain live or dead larvae or their feces.

Life cycle

The female lays eggs on the date fruits, about 90:104 eggs that hatch after 4:6 days in the store under optimal temperature conditions. The larval stage ranges from 48 to 122 days, and the larvae has 6 to 8 ages, while the pupal period ranges from 6:18 days and the adult insect from 2 to 12 days for males and females, and the insect has 4 generations per year.

Protection and control methods:

  • Mechanical control by pruning and removing the remnants of the previous date crop, including old bunches, old floral stalks, old dates falling in the axils of leaves and on the ground, and unknown dates (scattered), and the safe disposal of all these residues, including larvae and pupae, after harvesting the crop during October, November and December.
  • Then the heart of the palm tree and around the place of exit of bunches and the bases of the leaves are dusting with agricultural sulfur.
  • One of the recommended pesticides can be used to wash the heart of the palm and the bases of the leaf after date fruits collection and pruning.
  • Attention to good agricultural practices service such as balanced fertilization, irrigation, good hoeing and weed disposal.
  • Checking and control of Amri worm in fruit farms adjacent to palm farms or planted inside palm farms, which is considered an alternative host for the insect in periods when it does not infest dates and the insect moves from it to palm trees at the appropriate time for infestation.
  • Using behavioral control using light to monitor the emergence of adult insects since the beginning of the season as well as to eliminate them.
  • Covering date bunches with perforated bags after discoloration of the fruits to prevent butterflies from laying eggs on the fruits of dates.
  • The use of biological control using the parasite Trichogramma for eggs and the parasite Bracon  for larvae at the beginning of the appearance of eggs and larvae of the insect and throughout the season in the field.
  •  The use of biological control using insect pathogens such as Beauveria fungus and B.T. bacteria compounds and viruses.
  •  The use of biological control using some predators such as the large spotted praying mantis Mantis religiosa and the two-spotted praying mantis Sphodromantis bioculata.
  •  In the case of severe infestation and the failure of the previous methods to control the infestation, it is possible to spray one of the alternatives to safe and biological insecticides, which do not leave any residues on the fruits until the harvest time is near, such as the following compounds: Bt compounds (Protecito – Agrin – Dibel) at a rate of 100 cm / 100 liters of water Or with the natural compound Tricer SC 24% (Spinosad) at a rate of 20 cm / 100 liters of water, and the treatment should be repeated two weeks after the first treatment.

Covering date bunches with perforated plastic bags to prevent insects from laying eggs

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