Seasonal Incidence of Major Pests of Ash Gourd, Benincasa hispida Thunb. in Relation to Weather Parameters
Abstract
Studies on seasonal occurrence of major pests of ash gourd, Benincasa hispida Thunb. revealed that the incidence of Liriomyza trifolii Burgess and aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer were highest during first week of October 2018 (SW 40) and first week of February 2019 (SW 05) respectively. Red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas and Pumpkin caterpillar, Diaphania indica Saunders were highest during second week of October 2018 (SW 41). The correlation and regression analyses showed that weather parameters significantly influenced the incidence of M. persicae, L. trifolli, A. foveicollis and D. indica as 38.34, 23.50, 19.88 and 31.23 percent of total variation, respectively.
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Introduction
Ash gourd, Benincasa hispida Thunb is one of the most important vegetable crops, being cultivated throughout the humid tropical and subtropical regions. It is also known as tallow gourd, Chinese preserving melon, Chinese water melon, white gourd and wax gourd which is originated in the Asian subtropics. Ash gourd is mainly grown in India, China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and the Caribbean Islands for vegetable and medicinal purposes. The immature fruits are used as vegetable and mature fruits are used for preparing candy, sweets and also some ayurvedic medicines (Tindall, 1986).
Ash gourd is attacked by wide range of insect pests viz., aphids, Aphis gossypii Glover and Myzus persicae Sulzer (Aphididae: Hemiptera), whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera), leafhopper, Amrasca devastans Distant (Cicadellidae: Hemiptera), thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood (Thripidae: Thysanoptera), Serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyzat rifolii Burgess (Agromyzidae: Diptera), Pumpkin caterpillar, Diaphania indica Saunders (Crambidae: Lepidoptera), Red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera) and Melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett (Tephritidae: Diptera) (Atwal, 1993; Dhillon et al. 2005; Tamilnayagan et al. 2017a and Tamilnayagan et al. 2017b). Incidence of insects can changeover time due to varied reasons including macroclimatic and microclimatic changes and variation in the availability of food resources (Wolda, 1988). The present study is undertaken to study the seasonal incidence of major pests of ash gourd, B. hispida which in turns helps in developing timely management practices.
Conclusion
The results of the study indicate that the incidence of L. trifolii and M. persicae were highest during SW 40 and SW 05, respectively and the incidence of A. foveicollis and D. indica were highest during SW 41. The correlation and regression analyses showed that the weather parameters significantly influenced the incidence of insect pests. The findings of the study can be helpful for the timely management of insect pests of ash gourd.
