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Incidence of Leaf Eating Beetle Podontia quatuordecimpunctata L. on Greater Hog plum (Spondias dulcis Forst.) in Gangetic Plains of West Bengal

Author: Sabyasachi Ray and A. Banerjee

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Abstract

Greater hog plum (Spondias dulcis) or ‘biliti amra’, a minor fruit crop belongs to plant family Anacardiaceae. Besides, weather based population monitoring is necessary to forewarn the probable population build up of a specific pest for a region. Keeping the views in mind an experiment was conducted to study the pattern of incidence of one of its major pest, the chrysomelid leaf beetle (Podontia quatuordecimpunctata L.) in an unsprayed orchard located in the Gangetic plains of West Bengal during summer and kharif seasons. The experiment reveals that the leaf damage is done by both the adult and grub stages of the beetle. The beetle was noticed to occur on the crop from April to August along with two peak periods of infestation (1st week of June and 2nd week of July). The study reveals non-significant correlation between the pest population and the meteorological parameters taken into consideration.

Keywords

Incidence, Podontia quatuordecimpunctata, Spondias dulcis, Weather parameters

Conclusion

The investigation concludes that chrysomelid foliage feeder (Podontia quatuordecimpunctata L.) is one of the major insect pests of greater hog plum in the Gangetic plains of West Bengal. Both the adult and grub stages of the insect are responsible for foliage damage. The beetle occurs in the orchard from April to August having two peak periods of infestation (first week of June and second week of July). The study also reveals non-significant association between the weather factors and pest population. The present finding may act as a stepping stone to develop weather based pest monitoring system of this minor but important fruit crop in future.

References

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How to cite this article

Sabyasachi Ray and A. Banerjee (2023). Incidence of Leaf Eating Beetle Podontia quatuordecimpunctata L. on Greater Hog plum (Spondias dulcis Forst.) in Gangetic Plains of West Bengal. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(1): 42-47.