International Journal of Entomology Research

Authors
Khalid Kinati

Abstract
Despite the potential for increasing the production and productivity of sesame in Ethiopia, there are a number of biotic and abiotic challenges inhibiting its production and productivity. Among the biotic constraints, the insect pests are responsible for the yield reduction in terms of quantity and quality, disease transmission and post-harvest crop management. The study was conducted in three woredas of western Oromia during 2016 crop season with the objective of determining the insect pests associated with the sesame crop at the field stage. The study result showed that there are group of insects from Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera and Isopteran orders found attacking the crop. Among the recorded insects, the sesame web worm (Antigastra catalaunalis Dup.) found the most serious pest feeding on the crop from the seedling up to the maturity stages. Among the piercing sucking insects which are responsible for disease transmission in addition to the physical damage to the crop, the incidence of the cotton whitefly and green peach aphid have also been noted. Finally, the author recommends that it is important to give more emphasis on improving production technologies and more studies are needed to identify severity, insect disease complexes and integrated pest management (IPM) packages with better collaboration of the stakeholders for improved exploitation of high potentiality of the study areas.