Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) has been recognised as an underutilised plant worthy of further research and development by the Indian National Genetic Resources Programme and the International Centre for Underutilised Crops, UK. It is an important fruit crop of the hot arid regions in India as it forms an integral part of the life of the locals as a source of nutrition, fodder (leaves), fuel (pruned wood) and it has several ethnobotanical uses. In this study, 8 of the 10 principal growth stages based on the existing Biologische Bundesantalt, Bundessortenamt und Chemische Industrie (BBCH) scale were used to describe Indian jujube. These growth stages were vegetative bud development (Stage 0), leaf development (Stage 1), shoot development (Stage 3), inflorescence development (Stage 5), flower development (Stage 6), fruit development (Stage 7), fruit maturity (Stage 8) and senescence or beginning of dormancy (Stage 9). The phenological BBCH scale for Indian jujube can be used to guide the growers as to when to carry out orchard management practices such as canopy training and pruning, nutrient and water application, pest and disease control and post‐harvest processing.

Host plant resistance is an important component for management of the melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), owing to difficulties associated with its chemical and biological control. Various biochemical traits including total sugar, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, tannins, phenols, alkaloids, flavinoid and pH contents of fruit were studied on 11varieties/ genotypes of muskmelon, Cucumis melo L., in relation to resistance against B. cucurbitae under field conditions. Significant differences were found in tested varieties/ genotypes for fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. AHMM/BR-1, RM-50 and AHMM/BR-8 were the most resistant; MHY-5, Durgapura Madhu and Pusa Sarabati were moderately resistant; AHMM/BR-13, Pusa Madhuras and Arka Jeet were susceptible; whereas Arka Rajhans and GMM-3 were the highly susceptible varieties/ genotypes to fruit fly in both seasons, 2011 and 2012. The larval density per fruit increased with an increase in percent fruit infestation and there was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.97) between percent fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. Total sugar, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar and pH were lowest in resistant and highest in susceptible varieties/ genotypes, whereas tannins, phenols, alkaloids and flavinoid contents were highest in resistant and lowest in susceptible varieties/ genotypes. Total alkaloid and pH contents explained 97.96% of the total variation in fruit fly infestation and 92.83% of the total variation in larval density per fruit due to alkaloids and total sugar contents.

Indian jujube known as ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) is an extremely drought hardy and native fruit of India. However, the quality of fruits and productivity is not obtainable up to the standard. One of the reasons for it is infestation of insect pests on the vegetative as well as developing fruits, which ultimately leads to significant yield loss and quality attributes of the fruits. Though as many as 130 species of insect pests have been recorded in India, only few species have attained the pest status and cause substantial economic damage to ber. A total of 12 insect-pests infesting on ber have been recorded from hot arid region of Rajasthan. Out of these, three insects viz., Ber fruit fly (Carpomyia vesuviana Costa), fruit borer (Meridarchis scyrodes) and stone weevil (Aubeus himalayanus Voss) were recorded as major pests with high infestation rate, whereas two insects (Ber butter fly, Tarucus theophrastus (Fabricius) and thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis (Hood)) were recorded as moderate pests. As many as seven insect pests viz., grey weevil, Myllocerus dentifer (Fabricius), M. blandus Faust, Amblyrrhinus poricollis Schoenherr; leaf webber, Synclera univocolis; ber mite, Larvacarus transitans, bark eating caterpillars, Indarbela sp and termite, Odontotermes sp were recorded as minor pests. The incidence of fruit fly (C. vesuviana), fruit borer (M. scyrodes) and stone weevil (A. himalayanus) were recorded on ber from October to February. The fruit fly infests most of the Ziziphus species grown in the world and cause severe yield loss up to 80% or even more. The average percent incidence of stone weevil, A. himalayanus was observed between 13.00 to 64.00 in fallen fruits and 12.00 to 59.33 on attached fruits of ber. The seasonal incidence of fruit borer, M. scyrodes attained its

No abstract

No abstract