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Entomopathogenic Fungi,
a Potential IPM Component for Sunn Pest Control
Sunn pest (Eurygaster integriceps Puton) is one of the most damaging insect pests of wheat and barley in West Asia, where over US$ 42 million is spent annually for its control. Yield loss caused by Sunn pest is estimated at 20-30% in barley and 50-90% in wheat. An integrated pest management (IPM) package is being developed to replace the existing chemical control strategy.
Entomopathogenic fungi of Sunn pest were collected in southern Turkey and southeastern Syria in January 1998. The collection team consisted of scientists from ICARDA, University of Aleppo, University of Cukorova, Plant Protection Research Institute of Adana, and University of Vermont. Adult Sunn pests were collected from their overwintering habitats, which varied depending upon geographic location. In cereal fields, surrounded by mountains, the insect was found on steep slopes beneath the litter at the base of bushes. At lower elevations, where mountains were absent, Sunn pest was found under the litter of bushes or at the base of Eucalyptus and Mediterra-nean pine trees. All dead individuals and pieces of dead individuals were carefully collected.
A total of 1063 Sunn pest specimens were collected; 84 of these were dead on collection. From these, a total of 104 fungal isolates were made. The most common entomopathogenic isolates belonged to the genus Beauveria. Also, representatives of Paecilomyces were found. This last one is considered moderately entomopathogenic, but instances have been recorded where certain strains of the fungus were very pathogenic. From these, pure cultures of 45 isolates were prepared. These are now being subcultured and multiplied for pathogenicity trials against Sunn pests at ICARDA.
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about 75 kg N /ha in a season and, therefore, are comparable with other cool-season food legumes (lentil, faba bean, and chickpea) in the region. Sowing peas at a population density of 36 plants/m2 for traditional types and 50 plants/m2 for semi-leafless types gave optimal seed yield. The trials at Tel Hadya, Syria, revealed that preemergence application of a combination of propyzamid (0.5 kg a.i./ha) and methabenzthiazuron (2.5 kg a.i./ha) or propyzamid (0.5 kg a.i./ha) plus cyanazine (0.75 kg a.i./ha) was effective in controlling the weeds.
Since cold stress is common during the winter months, the introduced materials were evaluated for cold tolerance under Tel Hadya conditions using the same technique as for chickpea. This technique involved early planting (late September or early October) of pea materials and their evaluation in January or February when the susceptible check- cum-indicator rows were killed by cold. This resulted in the identification of a good number of cold-tolerant lines. Some of the lines found tolerant to cold across a number of years are listed in Table 7.
ICARDA distributed a large number of elite lines to NARS through its Legume International Testing Network. The evaluation results of these lines across various countries demonstrated that yield levels of some of the improved cultivars were comparable with other cool-season food legumes (including chickpea, lentil, and faba bean). In certain countries the location means for seed yields were as high as 2500 kg/ha in some years.
From these elite cultivars, a large number of lines have been identified by NARS for multilocation or on-farm testing or prerelease multiplication. Some NARS have released pea cultivars, namely, PS210713 ('Contemenous') in Cyprus; 061K-2P-2192 in Ethiopia; 'Collegian', MG102703, and A0149 and 'Syrian Local' in the Sultanate of Oman; and 'Krema B1' and 'Ballet' in Sudan, for general cultivation. Results from 12 years of research on dry pea have demonstrated that this crop has good potential to replace fallow areas (under wheat-fallow or barley-fallow rotation in the region). Research on dry pea was discontinued at ICARDA in 1998 for budgetary reasons.
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Dry Pea as a Potential Crop in WANA
Although dry pea was domesticated in West Asia and the crop has been cultivated in the ICARDA region for millennia, yields are low because of lack of high-yielding and stable cultivars and efficient crop-management practices. Therefore, research on dry-pea improvement was initiated at ICARDA in 1986. Building on the extensive research on the improvement of dry pea in both industrialized and developing countries, ICARDA identified lines adapted to the farming systems of WANA. The Center's research focused on: (i) assembling enhanced germplasm from various sources and testing its adaptation at ICARDA sites in Syria and Lebanon, (ii) increasing the seed of adapted lines and sharing the promising materials with NARS in and beyond WANA through the Legume International Testing Network, and (iii) developing suitable production technology at ICARDA and transferring it to NARS.
ICARDA investigated management practices for pea production under low- to medium-altitude Mediterranean environments in WANA. Mid-November to early December is the optimum sowing time for peas in the region. Peas fix
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