SURVEY AND POPULATION DENSITY OF SESAME PESTS AND ASSOCIATED NATURAL ENEMIES

Abstract

: The present studies were carried out in farmer fields cultivated with sesame Sesamumindicum L variety Shandaweelduring 2021 and 2022 seasonsat Abo Hammad district, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, to survey the pests, natural enemies associated with sesame plants and to study the population density of the main and dominant pests. The pests recorded relatively high mean numbers were leafhoppers species, two spotted spider mites,green peach aphids, onion thrips and green stink bugpests were recorded relatively high mean numbers followed by whiteflyand last species in very low numbers. In addition, four species of insect predators and one predatory mite was found associated with pests on sesame plants in very low numbers. The occurrence periods and population fluctuation of main pestsspecies i.e., Empoasca spp.,