Seasonal Incidence of Insect-pests, Natural Enemies and Pollinators of Solanum melongena L. and Correlation between Their Daily Occurrences with Weather Parameters

Abstract

The investigation was carried out at K.V.K Instructional Farm of Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi, Odisha, India during the cropping season 2020-21. Brinjal shoot and fruit borer (BSFB), whitefly, and jassid were the most significant pests found in brinjal, Solanum melongena L. while epilachna beetle was of minor importance as it was found in much lower numbers and caused less damage. They were found from 2nd to 16th Standard Meteorological Week (SMW). The population of whitefly had significant negative correlation with morning, evening and mean Relative Humidity (RH). There was a significant negative correlation of population of jassids with evening and mean RH but significant positive correlation with bright sunshine hours. The population of epilachna had significant negative correlation with morning, evening and mean RH but positive correlation with maximum, minimum and mean temperature. BSFB infestation on fruit had significant negative correlation with morning, evening and mean RH but positive correlation with maximum and mean temperature. There was a significant positive correlation of BSFB infestation on shoot with maximum, minimum and mean temperature but significant negative correlation with rainfall. The natural enemies found in brinjal ecosystem from 4th to 16th SMW and belonged to ladybird beetles, spiders, preying mantids, black ant, carabid beetle, syrphid flies, damselfly and chrysopids. The population of spiders had significant negative correlation with evening and mean RH but positive correlation with bright sunshine hours. There was a significant negative correlation of population of coccinellids with evening RH. The pollinators recorded from experimental field were honeybee and carpenter bee from 3rd to 16th SMW. Among them, carpenter bee, Xylocopa sp. was the most dominant visitor of brinjal flower in the field and was identified as potentially important in brinjal. The pollinators appeared in higher numbers during the blooming period and was the dominant species found in the field.  The population of honey bees had significant negative correlation with evening RH.