Impact of date of sowing on lepidopteran insect pest of black gram, Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out to study the incidence of major lepidopteran insect pests of the black gram on different dates of sowing at B A College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, with five different sowing dates at an interval of seven days. The result showed that there was a significant impact of sowing periods on insect pests activity in black gram. The incidence of defoliators viz., Bihar hairy caterpillar, Spilosoma obliqua Walker and Spotted pod borer, Maruca testulalis (Geyer) was higher in the late sowing periods i.e., 1st week of August and 2nd week of August. These sowing periods also yielded higher. The prevalence of defoliators was comparatively low in 2nd week of July, 3rd week of July, and 4th week of July sown crop.