Population Dynamics of Citrus Butterfly, Papilio sp. (Papilionidae: Lepidoptera) on Acid Lime

Author: Dileep Kumar N.T., Biradar A.P., Mallapur C.P., Shripad Kulkarni and Venugopal C.K.

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Abstract

Citrus butterflies, Papilio demoleus and Papilio polytes are the two economically important butterfly species attacking on citrus crops. The larvae of this pest act as defoliators and found to cause significant loss to citrus production. Acid lime, Citrus aurantiifolia Swingle is one of the important citrus crops grown extensively in northern Karnataka. The production of acid lime is under threat due to attack of citrus butterfly under both nursery and field conditions. For the management of these insect pests, it is important to know how pest is behaving under changing weather conditions. A fixed plot survey was carried out at fortnightly interval to study population dynamics of citrus butterfly from November 2020 to June 2022. The observation on incidence of citrus butterfly was recorded on ten randomly selected plants by counting number of larva per plant. The results of the study indicated that, the citrus butterfly incidence was noticed throughout study period with raising and falling trends in population. During the study period, the larval population was ranged from 1.20 to 10.10 larvae per plant. The peak activity was recorded during December and August months. Minimum incidence of citrus butterfly was noticed during first and second fortnight of May month. The data on correlation of larval population with abiotic environmental factors indicated significantly negative correlation with maximum temperature (r=-0.843), minimum temperature (r=-0.577) and rainfall (r=-0.353). A significant positive correlation was observed with morning relative humidity (r=0.567) and evening relative humidity (r=0.481). Whereas non-significant negative correlation was recorded with wind speed (r=-0.272NS) and sunshine hours (r=-0.220NS). The multiple linear regression analysis indicated that different weather parameters influenced the population dynamics of citrus butterfly to an extent of 77.50 per cent. The information of nil incidence, low incidence and peak incidence will provide strong basis for initiation of suitable control measures against citrus butterfly.

Keywords

Citrus butterfly, P. demoleus, P. polytes, population dynamics, correlation

Conclusion

The outcome of present study clearly indicated that citrus butterfly activity was noticed throughout the year with two peak population during August and December months. The correlation data indicated that temperature and relative humidity are the two important factors that significantly affect the seasonal abundance of citrus butterfly on acid lime. This information can be very much useful in order to initiate control measures, and it helps to develop prediction model about outbreak of pests based on data on abiotic factors.

References

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How to cite this article

Dileep Kumar N.T., Biradar A.P., Mallapur C.P., Shripad Kulkarni and Venugopal C.K. (2022). Population Dynamics of Citrus Butterfly, Papilio sp. (Papilionidae: Lepidoptera) on Acid Lime. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4): 368-372.