Seasonal incidence of major pest of chilli and their natural enemies under Western Vidharbha condition

Abstract

Seasonal incidences of major pests of chilli viz., thrips, aphid, mites and fruit borer with natural enemies such as lady bird beetle, spider etc. were studied at Agriculture Research Station, Achalpur (Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola) during Kharif 2018-19 and 2019-20. The results of two years study revealed that the aphid population was observed from 33rd MW (0.28 and 3.20, respectively) throughout the whole growing season for both the year and it attained its initial peak during 44th and 45th MW, respectively. During the low rainfall year non significant positive correlation (0.410) was recorded. However, in next year significantly higher and positive (0.645) correlation was recorded with rainfall. The maximum population of thrips was observed at 39th MW (6.20 per leaf) and 44th MW (10.30 per leaf), the correlation between thrips population and rainfall was positively non-significant (0.389 and 0.033) for Kharif 2018 and 2019, respectively. The mites population were reached at its peak during 39th MW (2.70 per leaf) and 40th MW (2.15 per leaf) during both the year, respectively. The correlation studies for both the years revealed that, the mite’s population showed positively non-significant correlation with rainfall. The incidences of fruit borer commenced from 38th and 37th i.e. 0.80 per larvae per plant for both the year. The fruit borer population exhibited a negative non significant correlation with rainfall during Kharif 2018 and vice-versa during Kharif 2019. The lady bird beetle population was commenced from 31st with a mean population 0.30 per plant in Kharif 2018 and 0.10 per plant in Kharif 2019. The correlation studies between the population of lady bird beetle and rainfall was negatively non-significant for both the seasons. In case of spider, it attained its peak during 37th and 50th (0.40 and 0.60 per plant), respectively for both the season. The correlation studies between spider and rainfall were revealed that the population was negatively non-significant with rainfall during Kharif 2018 and 2019.