Seasonal Abundance of Sucking Insect and Mite Pests Infesting Okra under Mid-Hill Conditions of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The studies on seasonal abundance of sucking insect and mite pests infesting okra were undertaken at CSKHPKV, Palampur and farmers' field at Samloti during kharif 2018. The activity of two sucking pests i.e., aphid, Aphis gossypii and jassid, Amrasca biguttula biguttula on okra at Palampur initiated during second and third week of July, respectively and the pests remained associated with the crop till harvest i.e. third week of October. The peak population of A. gossypii (101.3aphids/plant) and A. biguttula biguttula (7.2 jassids/plant) was observed during second week of October and fourth week of August, respectively. Whereas, at Samloti the population of A. gossypii, A. biguttula biguttula and Tetranychus urticae started appearing during first week of June and the peak population of 64.4 aphids per plant was recorded during third week of September. The maximum number of jassids per plant (18.6) was observed during last week of August and T. urticae remained on okra crop for a short period having peak population of 11.2 mites per plant during second week of June. Analysis of correlation between weather factors and population of sucking pests on okra at Palampur showed that population of A. gossypii had a significant negative correlation with minimum temperature (r = -0.6545) and relative humidity (r = -0.7646). At Samloti, maximum temperature had significant negative effect on A. gossypii (r = -0.6040) and A. biguttula biguttula (r = -0.5144).