Seasonal incidence of major insect pests of brinjal, Solanum melongena L. under agro climatic conditions of Varanasi region

Abstract

Seasonal incidence of shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis (on shoot), jassids, Amrasca bigutulla bigutulla, whitefly, Bemesia tabaci was more prevalent during vegetative phase of the crop. Peak shoot infestation was observed in second week of October (78%), on initiation of fruiting stage and declined, peak fruit infestation was observed in first week of November (63%). Peak infestation of whitefly and jassids was observed during third week of November (13.52 adults/3leaves) and (7.71 adults/3leaves), respectively. After that, the population was declined with advent of winter season. The role of rainfall and relative humidity was increased the infestation of whitefly and jassids. Temperature was negatively correlated with whitefly and jassids infestation and shoot and fruit infestation was positively correlated with maximum temperature and mean temperature.