Screening of Oats (Avena sativa) against Cereal Leaf Beetle within the Ranges of Himalayas of Kashmir

Abstract

Cereal leaf beetle (Oulema melanopus L.) Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera is one of the devastating pests of wheat, oat and barley in Kashmir valley. Freezing temperatures of Kashmir valley are not suitable for double cropping in a single year. In these harsh winters, farmers are not able to feed their cattle fresh greens, to overcome the problem oats serve as best green fodder not only for cattle but now a days oats are preferred as dietary meal for people. Oats is encountered by various limiting factors, among which cereal leaf beetle has posed a threat in both quality and quantity as well. Hence, an experiment was laid to study the screening of four available varieties of Oats. Investigations were carried out at the farmers field near the Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura, Kashmir, India during 2021-22 under free choice conditions to evaluate the results. Among the evaluated varieties SKO-90 registered least damage of 17% followed by SABZAR (19%), however highest damage of (35%) was found on the cultivar KENT, it was closely followed by SKO-96 with leaf damage of (33%). It is advisable that, farmers should go through the two least damaged varieties of the oats and the chemical constituents responsible for the less damage need to identified through biochemical analysis.