Assessing the toxicity of some pesticides on the red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus)

Date palm is one of the most important fruit trees in the Arabian Peninsula, and Saudi Arabia is the forefront of these countries. In the last 23 years the date palm was exposed to the Red Palm Weevil (RPW) which is devastating disease. The RPW caused very serious damages unprecedented before, which threatens, the extinction of the date palm. The infested date palm will die during few months in case of non intervention. The use of pesticide is still considered the main way to control the spread of this insect, since the excessive and indiscriminate use of pesticides cause major damage to the environment, therefore, it requires further research on the effectiveness of the use of this pesticides against this insect (toxicity, application methods, safe environment … etc) and determine the best insecticide with high toxicity and low concentrations. Experiments were conducted: - Test the effectiveness of some pesticides from different chemical combinations, and evaluate the efficiency of its toxicity against the RPW. - Study the response on different life phases of the insect (Larvae-Adult insect) for various pesticides and determine the stage suitable for the intervention. - The first result obtained in the laboratory is showing the possibility of the use of some pesticides with high toxicity and low concentrations these result will be used to run the field experimentation.