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This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of four entomopathogenic fungi against the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) as an alternative to chemical pesticides. The adult stage inside stored wheat was subjected to different concentrations of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo), Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch), Verticillium lecanii (Zimmerman), and Paecilomyces ilacinus (Thoms) in either Petri-plates at 7, 15 and 22 days or bag storage at 20, 40 and 60 days exposure times. The first experiment indicated that V. lecanii achieved maximum mortality (58.89 and 57.5%) via interaction with the highest dose of 0.748 £ 107 and maximum exposure time of 22 days respectively. The adults required the lowest concentration of V. lecanii to achieve an average LC50 (6,233,697 mg) within various exposure times. Regarding the latter experiment (liquid assay), the least survivorship (41.25) was observed by P. ilacinus followed by V. lecanii (56.25) during 60 days of exposure time. On the other hand, the powder assay revealed that the highest mortality (57.08 and 48.75) of adults inside bags was recorded respectively via the interaction terms between V. lecanii with both the highest concentration (1000 mg) and exposure times 60 days and the LC50 value of the aforementioned bioagent was (240.02) for 60 days treatment followed by B. bassiana. The study suggests that the use of biopesticides can provide significant insight in the management of pests while minimize the weight loss of stored wheat and thus, can be used as an effective alternative or integrated with chemical pesticides in pest management strategies.

A field study was conducted in Girdarasha research station, belongs to the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences (CAES), Salahaddin University, Erbil Province, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The objective was to investigate the effects of adding plant materials on the suppression of chickpea fusarium wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. Two plant residues, fresh (non-degraded) and composted (degraded) from three plant sources of leaves were added to the soil. Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), Dodonea (Dodonaea viscosa), and Neem (Azadirachta indica) were used as plant sources. Results showed the domination of composted matters over non-composted plant materials in their effects on the measured parameters (disease incidence, disease severity, plant height, and seed yield). Composted Eucalyptus leaves surpassed other composted residues in decreasing the disease severity. Nevertheless, the composted Dodonea leaves had the greatest effect in increasing both yield and plant height. The growth rate was an exception because it was not affected by the addition of these plant matters.

Infection by phytopathogenic fungal species can result in significant losses in ornamental plants. For accurate diagnosis of plant diseases, DNA-based techniques have become dependent method. This study aimed to elaborate Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for rapid detection of fungal pathogens causing diseases on ornamental plants. In this study, specific primers were used to screen suspected plant diseases. The results revealed that Alternaria, Cylindrocladium, Myrothecium, Sclerotium, Cercospora, and Bipolaris, were the most abundant fungi that infect indoor or outdoor ornamental plants. From which, Alternaria alternata, Cylindrocladium sp., and Myrothecium sp. were found to be the most frequent fungi on foliage of these plants.