The bird Cherry-oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi (L) causes serious damage in cereal producing countries including Egypt. The biological performance and development of R. padi on ten Egyptian wheat cultivars including

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The early blight caused by Alternaria solani is a serious disease that threats potato plants during the growing seasons. This study investigated the relationship between leaf miner infestation and the incidence and severity of early blight in potato fields in El-Minya governorate, Egypt. An insecticide program included three different insecticides i.e., Abamectin 1.8 % EC, Fipronil 20% SC, and Imidacloprid 35%SC was applied to study its impact on leaf miner population as well as early blight incidence and severity. The leaf miner population was monitored during 2020 and 2021 growing seasons. Early blight incidence (DI), disease severity (DS), and area under the early blight progress curve (AUDPC) were estimated along with leaf miner infestation. The results showed high significant correlation between leaf miner infestation which represented by (the number of leaf miner adults, larvae, mines/leaflet and the minded leaf area) and the infection by A. solani which represented by (DI and DS of early blight) during the two growing seasons. The application of the insecticide program significantly decreased the number of leaf miner adults, mines, larvae, and minded area% as well as DI and DS of early blight. Also, it affected the correlation between the number of leaf miner adults as well as DI and DS. This study expands our knowledge about the relationship between leaf miner infestation and A. solani infection in the open potato fields and how that could be useful in setting up an effective integrated pest management program to control both leaf miner and early blight.

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The two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (TSSM), considered as a key arthropod pest affecting strawberries and other crops worldwide. Extensive use of pesticides negatively impacts the human environment and beneficial microorganisms. Therefore, the approach for using biological control should be applied to suppress the population of spider mites in fruits and other crops. This study evaluated the influence of releasing the two predatory phytoseiid mites Neoseiulus californicus (Mc Gregor) and Amblyseius swirskii A.-H. to control T. urticae on strawberry plants growing in the greenhouse. The results suggested that releasing N. californicus and A. swirskii significantly decreased the number of T. urticae eggs, nymphs and adults compared to untreated (control) plants. The highest overall mean number of survived nymphs and adults was observed on untreated leaflets, while the lowest survived ones were found on leaflets exposed to N. californicus. The release of A. swirskii on leaflets decreased the number of nymphs and adults, but significantly less than N. californicus treatment. In addition, the highest overall mean consumption rate for nymphs and adults of spider mites were noticed on N. californicus treatment, reaching 100% at the end of the evaluation. The present research proposes that releasing N. californicus could be a promising strategy for T. urticae suppression in strawberries.