Title: Abstracts of papers presented in a symposium entitled “2nd National Meeting for Biological and Integrated Management of Agricultural Pests” organized by the Biological Control Studies and Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Damascus, Syria, during the period 29-30 November 2021
Abstract: Chemical control by applying broad-spectrum insecticides was the first tactic implemented to suppress the invasive pest fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda when it invaded west Africa in 2016.The low-income smallholder farmers representing more than 200 million families, grow only corn, sorghum and other legumes in around two hectares.The farmers sprayed the cheapest conventional insecticide group of pyrethroids (Cypermethrin, Alpha-Cypermethrin) and Organophosphorus (Chlorpyriphos) insecticides in 2016 and 2017.The negative side effect of those insecticides and others were on natural enemies, particularly the egg parasitoids such as Trichogramma, Telenomus and Chelonus, and on the most dominant larval parasitoids Brachonids, Ichneumonids, Tachinids as well as predators.The international and local authorities realized that the massive use of chemicals would affect the agroecological components; therefore, they created many technical programs, including reducing the use of harsh chemicals and gradually switching to agricultural practices and biorational insecticides.It is worth mentioning that what happened in Africa is now being repeated in Near East region, where a large group of chemical pesticides is used to control this exotic invasive pest.The consequence of this practice was a negative impact on all active biomass in the agricultural ecosystem.An urgent TCP project started as an "Emergency preparedness and response to strengthen capacities of NENA countries to mitigate the risk of Fall Armyworm (FAW) in the region, TCP/RAB/3803" by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Cairo office and implemented in four countries, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, 2021 and 2022, providing different solutions to reduce pest damage.One of the most prominent pillars of this project is the development of countries' capabilities in surveillance, detection, diagnosis, rearing and release of biological enemies, in addition to testing biorational insecticides, reducing to the minimum what affects biological agents and consumer health.Capacity building is one of the main activities to transfer the information adopted by FAO, especially when a new incursion pest appears.More than 3350 farmers, facilitators, and engineers have been trained on integrated and biological control in the region.Syria, which is under the pressure of the spread of the pest, has succeeded in surveying the natural enemies and testing their efficiency on fall armyworm.The representatives of Syria presented some successes in the FAO meetings, and similar to Syria, Egypt, which FAO selected as a country to implement the global action for Fall Armyworm control (GA) in the Near East and North Africa region, is achieving substantial results in surveying natural enemies and capacity building.The eggs parasitoid Telenomus remus was first recorded in Egypt in addition to the traditional one Trichogramma, both in the process of mass-rearing and releasing.Molina-Ochoa et al. (2003) surveyed the natural enemies associated with fall armyworm in the Americas in seven host crops, recorded 150 parasitoids and parasites belonging to 14 families distributed among the species of wasps, nematodes and tachinid flies, which included 55 species.The family Tachinidae did not receive much attention in our region, knowing that it was registered in Egypt and Africa and was collected in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan during the current FAO project.This conference comes at a critical time to highlight the adoption of a project to stop using many pesticides in our countries and start comprehensive, integrated management programs.Syria is restoring its capabilities in this field, in which it was a pioneer in cotton and citrus crops programs. األ