Seasonal Abundance of Spotted Pod Borer, Maruca vitrata Fabricius in Early Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] and its Management through Farmscaping in Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Field experiments were carried out in pigeonpea during Kharif 2014 to Kharif 2017 for Maruca vitrata Fabricius management through farmscaping approach with 7 different border crops (5 leguminous crops; 2 non-leguminous crops) and a sole crop. The M. vitrata larval webbing per plant was lowest and per cent decrease in webbing/plant over sole crop was highest in sorghum (2.05 and 60.95) as border crop followed by pearl millet (3.29 and 37.39). The highest mean number of Coccinella septumpunctata per plant (0.77), Cheilomenes sexmaculata per plant (0.85/plant) and spiders (0.76/plant) was recorded from sorghum as border crop with pigeonpea. The highest percent increase in above said natural enemies over sole crop was also recorded from sorghum as border crop treatment (755.6, 844.4 and 660). The highest pigeonpea yield (730.72 kg/ha) and per cent yield gain (65.81%) was also recorded with sorghum treatment. Among 5 weather parameters tested, day length (1.53) and relative humidity (-0.12) were found to influence the M. vitrata population significantly and its incidence was recorded from 41st SMW to 47th SMW.

Influence of Weather Parameters on the Seasonal Abundance of Legume Pod Borer Maruca vitrata (Crambidae: Lepidoptera) on Dolichos Bean (Lablab purpureus var. typicus)

“…The results revealed that the coefficient of determination (R 2 ) was significant with the weather parameters viz., maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity and rainfall contributed directly towards the larval abundance in flowers and pods to the extent of 39.20 and 44.30 per cent, respectively. Moreover, our findings are consistent with the previous reports of Sujayanand et al (2021). They reported that the weather parameters influenced over M. vitrata larval population by 41% (R 2 = 0.41).…”

“…Similarly, rainfall showed a significant influence on the larval abundance in pods (B= -0.26). The results are in contrast with the findings of Sujayanand et al (2021). They conveyed that the correlation coefficient (B= -0.12) observed for relative humidity significantly influenced M. vitrata larval population.…”

“…Even though there was ample information available in India on the M. vitrata seasonal abundance, infestation and impact of weather parameters on major pulses, pigeon pea (Sharma et al, 1999;Sreekanth et al, 2015;Sreekanth et al, 2019;Taggar et al, 2019;Sujayanand et al, 2021) and black gram (Swamy and Devaki, 2015;Kapoor, 2019), the data is inadequate concerning Dolichos bean (Lablab purpureus var. typicus).…”

Natural Pest Regulation and Its Compatibility with Other Crop Protection Practices in Smallholder Bean Farming Systems

“…However, as some of these species are invasive to SSA, they should be used cautiously. Crops such as sorghum used as a border in pigeon pea fields increase the abundance of the predators Coccinella septumpunctata , Cheilomenes sexmaculata, and spiders, with a decrease in M. vitrata populations, which eventually leads to increased pigeon pea yields [ 110 ].…”

Effect of Plant Phenology on Infestation by Legume Pod Borer <i>Maruca vitrata</i>on Dolichos Bean

“…Insect pests are the major constraints resulting in this low productivity, with about 18 insect pests (Jayasinghe et al, 2015;Khan et al, 2018). Notably, the lepidopterans feeding on the flowers and pods of food legumes cause significant yield losses (Rouf and Sardar, 2011;Sreekanth et al, 2019;Tagger et al, 2019;Sujayanand et al, 2021). Amongst this M. vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is a serious legume pest with high damage potential and a wider host range (Jackai 1995;Sharma 1999;Margam et al, 2011;and Periasamy et al, 2015).…”