Seasonal abundance and effect of Thrips and Mites damage on fruit quality characteristics of Kinno

Abstract

Mites and thrips have been known to cause rind-disorder of kinnow fruits which effects their market value. The present studies were carried out in 2016-2017 to know the seasonal incidence and the effect of thrips and mites on fruit characteristics. It was observed that citrus thrips, Scirtothrips citri (Moulton) started appearing in first week of March with the initiation of flowering and their attack continued up to last week of May in both the years. The population increased progressively with increase in temperature and decrease in relative humidity. On the other hand, Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes) started appearing on fruits from May onwards having maximum population in November-December. The damaged fruits had less fruit firmness and lesser amount of ascorbic acid, phenols, pectin and carotenoids. However, Total soluble sugars (TSS) were higher in fruits having 50 per cent rind scarring as compared to healthy fruits but fully damaged fruits (75-100%) had less TSS.