Ecological Studies on Some Pests of Protected Cultivation in Northern Africa

Abstract

Soil and vegetation are consider parts of the ecosystem. The present study was carried out at the Moubarak center for protected cultivation located at Gizeret EI-Dahab area, Giza Governorate as an island in river Nile environment, during two successive seasons (1998• 1999 and 1999-2000). This work is a preliminary survey of the main pests and predators as well as soil fauna associated with vegetable crops under greenhouses. Four greenhouses, as well as open area (as control for soil fauna) were chosen to carry out the investigation. Two of the greenhouses were cultivated with pepper plants, the two other were cultivated with cucumber plants. The out door area was cultivated with tomato plants in the first season and with egyptian clover in the second season. Normal agricultural practices were followed in the chosen greenhouses and in the open field. Samples of vegetable leaves were taken weekly from vegetable plants under greenhouses, and samples were taken monthly from soil. Two greenhouses were chosen to apply the chemical pesticides, one cultivated with pepper and the other was planted with cucumber. Also, another two greenhouses were chosen to apply the biological compounds, on pepper and cucumber plants to compare the effect of the two methods. F.. .