Vol. 11, Special Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
MB Zala and TM Bharpoda

Abstract:
Investigations on succession of insect pest complex and their natural enemies in mango were carried out at Horticulture Farm, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand during September, 2013 to August, 2014 and September, 2014 to August, 2015. Among 14 species of insect pests that were recorded at various stages of mango crop in an overlapping manner during study period, only five insect pests viz., mango hopper (Amritodus atkinsoni Lethierry, Idioscopus spp.), thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, Rhipiphorothrips cruentatus Hood), leaf gall midge (Procontarinia matteiana Kieffer & Cecconi), fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis, B. correcta, B. zonata) and leaf webber (Orthaga euadrusalis Walker) attained major status prevailing in a severe form. Nine insect pests were recorded only as stray/occasional pests during crop growth without causing any severe and perceptible damage to the crop. During the studies, a total of 06 natural enemies (spiders, coccinellids, chrysopids, dragonfly, owlfly and mantid) were found associated with mango tree at different crop growth stages. Among them, spider and coccinellids remained active throughout the year. All the insect pests were either significant or non-significant but positively associated with each other except leaf webber found negatively correlated with thrips, fruit fly, termite, spiders and coccinellids. There was highly significant positive association was established between the natural enemies viz., spiders and coccinellids in the mango crop ecosystem.