a seminar was held in the presence of the respected Dean of the College of Agriculture, Dr. Ali Abdul-Hussein Kareem, the esteemed Head of the Department of Plant Protection, Dr. Yasser Nasser Hussein, and a group of faculty members from the College of Agriculture.
The seminar, titled “Communication via Pheromones: Biological Mechanisms and Applications in Pest Control,” was presented by PhD student Raad Kareem Mujbil Al-Jaafari.
The seminar addressed the topic of pheromones—chemical substances used for communication among individuals of the same species, particularly in insects. It explained the importance of pheromones in insect behavior, such as mating, trail marking, danger signaling, and social coordination. The session also reviewed the mechanisms by which insects detect pheromones, the differences between volatile and non-volatile pheromones, and how this knowledge can be applied in pest control.
In addition, the seminar explored the challenges posed by insect resistance to pheromones and the use of technologies like RNA interference (RNAi) to disrupt sex pheromones as a modern strategy for pest management.
The seminar provided a detailed discussion on the definition of pheromones and their importance in chemical communication among insects, the various types of pheromones (such as sex pheromones, aggregation pheromones, and alarm pheromones), and the mechanism of pheromone action—from release and reception to behavioral or physiological responses. It also highlighted the evolution and diversity of pheromones among different insect species.
Moreover, the applications of pheromones in pest management were covered, including mating disruption, monitoring and surveillance, pheromone traps, insect resistance to pheromones, and the mechanisms by which such resistance develops. The seminar emphasized the use of RNAi technology to disable sex pheromones as a promising tool in pest control.
In conclusion, the seminar discussed future prospects and directions for using pheromones in developing innovative pest control strategies, focusing on overcoming insect resistance and leveraging advanced biotechnological approaches such as RNAi to target specific genes involved in pheromone production or reception.
