International Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 2014, 4(2): 124-134 DOI: 10.5923/j.ijaf.20140402.13 Towards Integrated Pest Management of the Cereal Leafminer Syringopais temperatella Led. (Lepidoptera: Scythrididae): Status, Current and Future Control Options Firas A. Al-Zyoud Department of Plant Protection and Integrated Pest Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Mu’tah University, Karak, Jordan Abstract The cereal leafminer, Syringopais temperatella Led. is a destructive insect pest of wheat and barley in the field, and causes economic damage to these crops in many countries including Jordan. The insect feeds on plant foliage and eventually leads to a sharp decline in production. Management of agricultural pests is undoubtedly considered one of the most important farming practices that should be taken by growers. Continuous use of chemical insecticides is neither economic nor sustainable, and poses risk to humans, animals, beneficials and their environment. One of the promising alternatives is the use of integrated pest management (IPM). IPM was proven to be a successful, sustainable, effective, economic and environmentally friendly control strategy for pests. However, to the best of our knowledge, no an integration published work was found to cover the status, biological and ecological aspects, current and future control options of S. temperatella. Therefore, this review paper was prepared to better understanding the biological and ecological aspects of S. temperatella, and to develop management strategies to successfully suppress its population. Also, this review aims to improve wheat and barley production in our region, through the introduction of IPM practices such as resistant plant cultivars, natural enemies, bio-insecticides and cultural practices to control S. temperatella, since this paper is the first to tackle some of IPM measures of this pest. However, in this review, the geographical distribution, host plant spectrum, life cycle and biology of the pest, susceptibility/resistance of hundreds of wheat and barley cultivars/accessions, role of oxalic acid, crop rotation, ploughing, right chemical and time, parasitoids, bio-insecticide and environmental factors were thoroughly discussed. All these aspects are fundamental components of IPM, and should be taken into account in any future IPM program to control S. temperatella. Keywords Biology, Ecology, IPM, Host-plant resistance, Wheat, Barley 1. Introduction Wheat and barley are the principal food crops for hundreds of millions of people in the predominantly mixed crop-livestock farming systems world-wide. The grain yield of these crops achieved by farmers in arid and semi-arid regions in West Asia and North Africa is low with large variability from year to year [1]. Low grain yield and even crop failure are common in Jordan [2]. Jordan is not self-sufficient in the production of wheat and barley, and the self-sufficiency ratio is only 1.8% and 6.1%, respectively. In 2010, the country imported 1,076,650 and 447,332 tons of wheat and barley, respectively [3] to cover the national needs. Both crops are classified as low-input crops to farmers, though, farmers can’t accept much loss of their yield due to * Corresponding author: firaszud@yahoo.com (Firas A. Al-Zyoud) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ijaf Copyright © 2014 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved any causal agent. The demand on Jordanian agriculture to rapidly increase cereals' production should be effectively addressed through modifications in the present control measures, and adaption of proven newer protection measures. In addition to the environmental stresses (mainly drought) which are main causes for low productivity of wheat and barley [4, 5], insect pests cause serious and yield loss to these crops [6]. Hundreds of insects have been monitored on wheat and barley worldwide. While most of these insects cause insignificant damage, others are considered major limiting factors that cause serious reduction in wheat and barley grains and forage production [7, 8, 9]. Some insect pests are specifically adapted to wheat and barley and their relatives and to the set of environmental conditions where wheat and barley are grown. As some agricultural practices eliminate natural regulating forces that would normally check their populations, many insect-pest populations have erupted into severe outbreaks wreaking near-total destruction on the crops they infest [6].