Seasonal incidence of insect pests and abundance of natural enemies in chilli crop

Abstract

The present investigations were carried out at farmers’ fields, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh (Central India) during Rabi 2017-18 and 2018-19 growing season. Regular weekly observations were recorded in chilli crop on farmers' fields, at four locations, during both the years. Major insect pests to attack the crop in vegetative stage were whiteflies, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, and jassids, Amrasca biguttula biguttula (Ishida), which were observed till maturity of the crop. Mites, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks), attacked in late vegetative stage and fruit-borers, Helicoverpa armigera Hubner in fruiting stage of the crop. The Coccinella transversalis Fabricius, predator was present on the crop from the vegetative stage till the crop maturity stage. Pooled peak activity of whiteflies was recorded in standard meteorological week (SMW) # 2 (2.98 individuals/ 10 cm twig), while in thrips it was 2.54 individuals per sample during SMW # 16, in jassids SMW # 10 (5.25 individuals/ 10 cm twig), peak population of mites (1.27 / leaf) during SMW # 10, in fruit borer SMW # 12 (1.2 larvae/ plant). Peak activity of ladybird beetle was recorded in SMW # 11 (3.01 beetles/ plant).