Impact of light traps on population density of gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hub) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and its larval parasitoid (Campoletis chlorideae Uchida) in Rod Kohi area of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan

Abstract

One (T1) and Two (T2) light traps ha-1 were compared with control (trap (s) with no light-T3) against gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hub.) and emergence rate of its larval parasitoid (Campolitus chlorideae) were investigated at Rod Kohi, D.I. Khan, Pakistan. T1 resulted in 7.57 mean number of H. armigera moths out of 49 total moth catch with average population of 0.306 larva per plant with 5.46% pod damage and average yield of 1980 kg ha-1. In T2, out of 45.26 total moth catch, 5.61 were H. armigera, with lowest number of larval population (0.254/plant), lesser pod damage (4.02%) and higher yield (2120 kg ha-1), while in control plots (T3), larval population density was maximum with 0.379 larvae/plant with pod damage of 10.40% and 1834 kg ha-1 yield was recorded. Mean number of 5.82 larval parasitoid were trapped in T1 while in T2 there were 5.19 adult parasitoids/trap. Maximum percentrn(9.047) emergence of larval parasitoids of H. armigera was recorded from larvae reared from T3 followed by T1 (7.016) while T2 reared larvae resulted in a minimum emergence of 7.0%. Highest larval mortality was recorded in T1 (9.58) followed by T2 (10.11) and T3 (10.86).