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Environment & Ecology 33 (2) : 616—620, April—June 2015 Website: environmentandecology.com ISSN 0970-0420

Pest Complex and Their Succession on Sapota (Manilkara achras (Mill.) Forsberg) Under Hill Zone of Karnataka Ravulapenta Sathish, D. Jemla Naik, A. C. Veerendra, R. Murali

Received 12 June 2014; Accepted 30 July 2014; Published online 18 August 2014

Abstract Fifteen species of insect pests were recorded at various stages of sapota crop during 201213 under hill zone of Karnataka. Among them only eight species viz., Banisia myrsusalis elearalis Walker, Anarsia achrasella Bradley, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendle), B. zonata (Saunders), Achrocercops gemoniella Stainton, Icerya sp., Coccus viridis Green Planococcus lilacinus Cockerell and Planococcus citri Risso attained major status prevailing in a severe form a long time. Four species were recorded only as stray pests during crop growth. The remaining three insect species appeared as minor pests without causing any severe and perceptible damage to the crop.

Introduction

Keywords Pest complex, Succession, Sapota.

Considering the need to have an effective management strategy the present study which deals with various pests attacking sapota at different crop stages during both on season and off seasons was taken up. The observations were documented during 2012-2013 at the Zonal Horticultural Research Station (ZHRS), Mudigere, Karnataka, India. (The authors are thankful to the Dr C. A. Viraktamath UAS, GKVK, Bangalore for sparing of his valuable time to identify the insect species during the present investigation).

R. Sathish*, D. J. Naik, A. C. Veerendra, R. Murali Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, UAHS, Navile, Shimoga, Karnataka 577204, India e-mail: [email protected] *Correspondence

India is considered to be the largest producer of sapota in the world and it is being cultivated in an area of about 1.60 lakh hectare with a production of 1424.0 metric tons [1]. Out of the total fruit production in India, Karnataka ranks first contributing 26.5% of total production of sapota [1]. The total area of sapota grown in Karnataka is about 30.8 thousand hectares with an annual production of 377.8 lakh metric tonnes and productivity of 12.287 metric tons per hectare [1]. Sapota tree is attacked by about 16 insect pests, which includes bud borer, chiku moth, mid rib folder, leaf miner, fruit flies and sucking pests [2].

Materials and Methods To study the seasonal incidence of insect pests on sapota, observations were done in sapota orchard of

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Fig. 1. Infestation of sucking pests on sopota during 2012-13.

RHREC (Regional Horticultural Research and Extension Center) farm, Mudigere. Ten sapota plants of twenty years old were selected randomly to record the pest complex in sapota orchard and from each plant corresponding to four directions. Four branches were tagged and from each branch five twigs or panicles were observed for recording data on leaf eating caterpillars, semi loopers, adult weevils, mid rib folder, leaf miner, bud borer, fruit flies, fruit borer and for scale insects number counted from the per square inch area of five infected leaves and mealy bugs per five affected leaves and twig or panicle from all the four directions. The number of thrips was counted per fifteen flowers (top. middle and bottom flowers per plant) from ten selected plants and average was taken into account. Observations were done at fortnightly interval from February 2012 to January 2013. Systematic recording of the data was made to quantify the pest level. No insecticidal measures were taken in the field selected for present studies during the entire period of study.

different stages of crop growth in an overlapping manner under the agro climatic conditions prevailing under hill zone of Karnataka (Table 1). The pest proliferation and their sequence could be seen distinctly from February 2012 to January 2013. The infestation mid rib folder, Banisia myrsusalis elearalis Walker was found during October to first fortnight of April while, there is no infestation in the rest of the months i.e., second fortnight of April to September. The highest (peak) activity of the pest i.e., more than 10% infestation was found in the month of November and December. These findings are in agreement with earlier report [3]. The data on the seasonal activities of bud borer, Anarsia achrasella Bradley showed a varying degree of infestation throughout the year with the peak activity during the month of March (11.29%). These results are in line with the earlier findings [4] who reported the higher activity of A.achrasella during March to May.

Results and Discussion It was observed that the sapota crop was infested with as many as fifteen species of insect pests at

The fruit flies Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendle), B. zonata (Saunders) damage was observed on fruits from October to January with maximum infestation

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Fig. 2. Insect pests on fruit, flower buds and leaves of sapota during 2012-13.

during second fortnight of December. This is in agreement with the earlier findings [5] who reported earlier from south Gujarat that, major activity of fruit flies coincided with fruiting season.

Leaf miner, Achrocercops gemoniella Stainton damage observed during present studies was confined to February, May, and October 2012 to January 2013. The higher incidence (8.01%) was recorded in

Table 1. Pest complex of sapota and their succession during 2012-13. Sl. No. Common name

Scientific name

1

Mid rib folder

Banisia myrsusalis elearalis Walker

2

Bud borer

Anarsia achrasella Bradley

3

Fruit fly

4

Leaf miner

Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendle), B. zonata (Saunders) Achrocercops gemoniella Stainton

5 6.

Fruit borer Leaf eating caterpillars Semilooper Leaf twister weevil Scales

7. 8 9

10

11

Mealy bugs

Blossom thrips

Phycita erythrolophia Hampson Barsine sp. Argina syringe Cramer Achaea serva Fabricius Apoderus sp. Fabricius Icerya sp. Coccus viridis Green Planococcus lilacinus Cockerell Planococcus citri Risso, Unidentified

Period of prevalence

Period of peak incidence

Crop stage

Status

Jan to April and Oct to Dec Jan to Dec

Nov to Dec

Vegetative

Major

Mar

Major

Jan and Oct to Dec Jan to May and Oct to Dec Oct to Dec Jan to Feb and Oct to Dec Oct to Dec Sep to Oct

Dec II FN

Vegetative Flowering Fruiting

May II FN

Vegetative

Major

Dec II FN Nov

Fruiting Vegetative

Minor Stray

Nov I FN Oct II FN

Vegetative Vegetative

Stray Stray

Apr II FM

Vegetative, flowering & fruiting Vegetative, flowering & fruiting Flowering

Jan to May

Jan to May and Oct to Dec Jan to Apr

Apr

Mar

Major

Major

Major Minor

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Fig. 3. Behaviour of B. myrsusalis during its different developmental stages.

second fortnight of May. Patel [6] also reported maximum infestation during May in Kalipatti variety of sapota in south Gujarat. The fruit borer, Phycita erythrolophia Hampson damage was confined to the months of October to second fortnight of December. The damage was highest 7.91% during the second fortnight of December. There was no literature pertaining to the damage of fruit borer, P. erythrolophia. The incidence of leaf eating caterpillars (Barsine sp. and Argina syringe Cramer) and semilooper (Achaea serva Fabricius) was observed from October to January with a peak activity during November. Tender leaves of sapota were twisted by the leaf twister weevil Apoderus sp. as recorded during present investigation. The incidence was observed from September to December with a peak activity during second fortnight of October. These findings are in close agreement with the earlier findings [7] who reported the Apoderus sp. damage on mango during the vegetative stage. The incidence of scale insects (Icerya sp. and Coccus viridis Green) on sapota was maximum during first and second fortnight April with an average

of 34.60 and 27.10 scales per 5 infected leaves per plant, respectively. These results are in confirmation with earlier findings [8] who also observed maximum population of scales during April and declined from May onwards. Population of mealy bugs (Planococcus lilacinus Cockerell and Planococcus citri Risso) has increased from first fortnight of March and reached the peak on the first fortnight of April (15.40 mealy bugs/30 cm shoot). The present findings on are in close agreement with earlier report [9] who reported higher population of mealy bugs during April. The incidence of blossom thrips with an average of 12.20 thrips per fifteen flowers per plant was recorded during first fortnight of March. While population of thrips declined from second fortnight of April. These findings are in agreement with the earlier findings [10] who opined that blossom thrips were attacking sapota during flowering season. Conclusion Among the fifteen species of insects found, only mid rib folder, B. myrsusalis elearaliswas was found to be prevailing dominantly in the vegetative period of sapota. This was followed by the bud borer, A. achrasella was observed throughout the year. Scale

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insects and mealy bugs were found during vegetative, flowering and fruiting stages of plant as a minor form. Leaf eating caterpillars, semilooper and leaf twister weevil appeared as a stray form during the vegetative growth of sapota. References 1. 2.

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