Study the Seasonal Abundance of Diamondback Moth and Natural Enemies in Cauliflower

Cauliflower, Brassica oleracea var. Botrytis L.is one of the important cruciferous vegetable crops grown in India. It is grown more or less in all the states and used as salad, boiled vegetable, in curries, pickling as well as dehydrated vegetable. The nutritional value/ 100 g of Cauliflower, consists of carbohydrates 5.3 g, fat 0.2 g, protein 2.4 g, vitamins (thiamine or vitamin B 0.1 mg, riboflavin orB 0.1 mg, niacin or vitamin B 0.5 mg, pantothenic acid or vitamin B 0.7 mg, folate or vitamin B 1 2 3 5 9 57.0 mg, vitamin C 46.4 mg, and vitamin K 16.0 mg), minerals (Ca 22.0 mg, Fe 0.4 mg, Mg 15.0 mg, Mn 0.2 mg, P 44.0 mg, K 303 mg, Na 30.0 mg, Zn 0.3 mg) (Copyright 2017 Nutrition Value org.). The total area under cultivation of Cauliflower, in India is 372 thousand hectares with an annual production to the tune of 8534 thousand tonnes with productivity of 18.3 metric tonnes (Anonymous-2013). The total area under cultivation of Cauliflower, in Rajasthan is 346 hectares with an annual production to the tune of 7588 tonnes (Anonymous-2010). China is major Cauliflower, producing country with 47 percent of world followed by India with 12 percent of world production (FAO-2012).

The yield of Cauliflower is adversely affected by many bottlenecks including insect pest, diseases, environmental stresses, nutritional imbalance etc. Among them insect pests, viz., tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Fab.); diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.); Cauliflower borer, Hellula undalis (Fab.); Cauliflower, looper, Tricoplusiani (Hub) and aphid, Lipaphiserysimi (Kalt.) (Prasad, 1963; Sachan and Srivastav, 1972; Joshi and Sharma, 1973; Mohan et al., 1981; Rao and Lal 2005). Out of these, aphid and diamondback moth are major pests causing significant loss in North India. The diamondback moth, P. xylostella was first reported on cruciferous vegetables in 1914 (Fletcher. 1914). It is sometimes called Cauliflower, moth, is a European moth believed to be originated in the Mediterranean region that has since spread worldwide. The moth has a short life cycle (14 days at 25 0C) is highly fecund, capable of migrating long distance, most important pest of cruciferous crops in the world that produces glucosinolates (Taleker and Shelton, 1993). The moth has awing span of about 15 mm and body length of 6 mm. The forewings are narrow brownish grey with fine dark speckles. A creamy coloured stripe with a wavy edge of the posterior margin is sometimes constricted to form one or more light coloured diamond shapes, which is the basis of common name of the diamondback moth. The hind wings are narrow, pointed towards the apex and light grey with a wide fringe. Moths are active usually at twilight and at night feeding on cruciferous plants but also fly in the afternoon during mass outbreak.