No abstract

Efficacy of some seed protectants against pulse beetle Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) in stored mungbean variety MH 421 was evaluated under laboratory conditions in the Department of Entomology, CCSHAU, Hisar during October-December 2018. The result revealed that the neem leaf powder (30g/ kg) and neem oil (10 ml/ kg) were found most effective with maximum adult mortality (100 and 98.33%, respectively), lowest grain damage and weight loss (1.06 and 1.20%) and (0.75 and 0.81%, respectively), followed by mentha oil (2.5 ml/ kg) and lemongrass oil (2.5 ml/ kg). Turmeric powder resulted in only less adult mortality (48.33%) with maximum infestation and weight loss (14.66 and 4.13%, respectively).

The estimation of crop losses is essential for the scheduling of integrated management tactics as it helps to determine priorities on the basis of relative importance of pests. Cucurbits, the most economically nutritious crops, suffer a quiet high damage by fruit flies. Therefore, the current investigation was carried out to estimate the avoidable yield losses due to melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae in the bitter gourd variety 'Pusa Do Mausami'. The study was conducted at Experimental Area,

Intercropping in cotton is of great significance, which helps to reduce the population of insect pests by attracting natural enemies to the field and helping to get stabilized yield and high profit advantage. The study was conducted with 4 intercrops, viz., sesame, Sesamum indicum L.; pigeonpea, Cajanus cajan L.; pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum L.; and sorghum, Sorghum bicolor L. in an experimental area during 2016 and 2017 autumn season. The objective was to study the population of parasitoids influenced by the intercrops in cotton. This is a triangular relationship between the host, parasitoids, and environment. As Encarsia spp. (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are the main parasitoids of insect pests of cotton, thus the study was undertaken on these parasitoids. The results revealed that the highest parasitization of whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) pupae by Encarsia spp., was recorded in cotton-pigeonpea 1:1 (33.22%), which was at par with cotton-pigeonpea 2:1 (32.16%), whereas the second highest one was in cotton-sesame 1:1 (27.33%), while the lowest parasitization was recorded in the control (16.16%). On the activity of Trichogramma spp., the significant highest percent was recorded in cotton-sesame 1:1 (10.93%), while no activity was recorded in cotton-pigeonpea, cotton-sorghum, cotton-pearl millet, and control treatments.

Investigations were carried out on monitoring of melon fruit fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae Coquillett on bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) using para-pheromone traps during Kharif, 2018-19 at CCS HAU, Hisar. The incidence of Z. cucurbitae started gradually and increased from 31st to 42nd Standard Meteorological Week (SMW) corresponding to the 1st week of September to 3rd week of October. Higher number of fruit flies (on average 9.5 to 40.5 flies/trap) were recorded in the month of September to first fortnight of October with a peak of 40.5 flies/trap during 37th SMW. Correlation analysis with various weather parameters indicated that maximum temperature (r = 0.611*), morning relative humidity (0.590*) and rainfall (0.747**) had significant positive correlation with trap catch population of melon fruit fly. The present findings also revealed that the influence of all-weather parameters was high and significant on trap catches population of the adult male melon fruit fly (R2=0.76).