Iranian Researcher Makes New Pesticide for Fig Roots Pest Control
Majid Ahmadzadeh told ANA on the sidelines of the Asreh Omid exhibition held by Islamic Azad University in Tehran’s Mosalla that he participated in the event with "Fig Tree Roots White Worm Pesticide."
The researcher said that he started working on making the pesticide in 2016 in Neyriz and Estahban counties in the Southwestern Iranian province of Fars, where figs and pistachios are cultivated broadly, that is why they decided to do soothing to tackle the pest problem in the vast orchards there.
“The fig tree has its own pest and necessary poison used to be imported from abroad to combat these pests. Since 2016, we did almost two years of scientific work, where we reached certain conclusions in the field of fig and pistachio trees, and it took about six months to a year to be able to produce this product on a semi-industrial scale with laboratory work,” Ahmadzadeh said.
The designer and producer of "Fig Root White Worm Pesticide" said that they produced the pesticide in a research center of Islamic Azad University-Neyriz branch, and added, “This product is a fig tree root worm pesticide that is called with special name in different places. It is known as the ringed worms because it looks like an elephant's trunk. This worm lives in 20 to 30 cm underground in the soil in the root of the fig tree and eats the root with its very strong tentacles. When the root is eaten, it cannot take nutrients from the soil, and as a result, the fruit does not grow, and even if it does, it is not fresh.”
“Between 50% and 60% of the pesticide for fig tree root worm or ringed worm is made of plant extracts, and some of these plants are indigenous to Neyriz and Estahban districts, and the rest is chemical substances,” he said.
To produce this pesticide, a research team consisting of Tahereh Khosusi, a faculty member of Neyriz Islamic Azad University and Majid Bojaran, Ahmadzadeh went on to say.
“A lot of methods were investigated until this product was made,” Ahmadzadeh said, adding, “This pesticide is multi-purpose and has been used for pistachio trees and we got acceptable results.”
He went on to hail holding Asreh Omid Event as a great job, saying, “This is a great event because the work and activities done by the university students can be seen by the research and development centers.
The national Asreh Omid Event was held in late May in Tehran’s Grand Mosalla with the participation of 3,000 knowledge-based companies, laboratories, research teams and startups.
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