Study of the Factors Affecting Infestation Rate with Olive Moth Prays oleae (Bernard, 1788) in Three Olive Growing Locations Along the Syrian Coast

Wassouf, Y., A.N. Bashir and Gh. Ibrahim. 2022. Study of the Factors Affecting Infestation Rate with Olive Moth Prays oleae (Bernard, 1788) in Three Olive Growing Locations Along the Syrian Coast. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 40(3): 193-200. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-40.3.193200 This study aimed to investigate the effect of the most important factors affecting the infestation rate with the olive moth, Prays oleae (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae), in three olive growing locations in Lattakia and Tartus Governorates (Al-Sawda, Ain Shiqaq and AlBarqiah). The study was carried out during the period 2019-2020. Results obtained showed that the location had an effect on the infestation rate, and the highest average infestation rate was 33.53% in Al-Barqiah location, followed by 20.86% in Ain Shkak, and the lowest was 16.65% in Al-Sawda location. Results obtained also showed that the insect generation had an effect on the olive moth infestation rate; infestation of the phyllophagous generation was the highest, followed by the antophagous generation and the carpophagous generation in the three locations. The x2 (Chi-square) test showed that there were significant differences between the infestation rate and the total number of biological enemies, the number of predators and the parasitism rate in the three locations. Keywords: Biological factors, olive moth, predators, parasitoids, Ain Shkak, A-Sawda, Al-Barqieh, Syria