Current scenario of management of fruit pests in Punjab.
Sharma D. R.
Author Affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana - 141 004, Punjab, India.
Haryana Journal of Horticultural Sciences 39 : 110-120
Abstract : Current scenario indicated that there are 90 insect and mite species comprising of 161 pests on 15 fruit crops grown under Punjab conditions compared to 61 pests belonging to 44 species in upto 1998. There have been 163.9 per cent increase in the number of insect and mite pests and 104.5 per cent increase in the number of species from 1999 to 2010. Maximum number of insect species were recorded in order Hemiptera (19) followed by Lepidoptera (14), Thysanoptera (5) and Coleoptera (4) since 1999. Among different fruit crops, Citrus spp. are being infested by 34 pests followed by pear (17); guava (15); ber (14); mango (13); grapes (12); peach (11); jamun and litchi (8 each); plum (7); sapota (6); banana and aonla (5 each); pomegranate (4) and papaya (2). The maximum increase in number of pest is on citrus (23); guava (13); pear (10); jamun, ber and plum (7 each); grapes and mango (6 each); litchi and banana (5 each); sapota and aonla (4 each) and 2 each in peach and pomegranate. All these 90 insect and mite species belong to eight different orders, i.e., Hemiptera (39 species); Lepidoptera (25); Coleoptera (8); Thysanoptera (6); Hymenoptera and Diptera (3 each) and Isoptera (2) and Acarina (4). Aphids, mites, scales, mealy bugs, thrips, termites, American bollworm, tobacco caterpillar, anar butterfly, castor capsule borer, leaf webbers, hoppers, blackfly, gall insect and shoot gall maker are among the emerging problems. To minimize the avoidable losses of these pests, 80 different tactics of management were developed. The major thrust was laid on cultural (18), mechanical (8) and chemical (54) technology in such a manner that there are minimum insecticide residues on the fruits. The application of these technologies has reduced the avoidable losses significantly on fruit crops in Punjab.