Monitoring Studies of Arthropod Complex Fauna Associated with Rapeseed- Mustard Crop Grown in Kashmir Himalayas

Abstract

Kashmir has quietly undergone a yellow revolution as thousands of hectares of land have been brought under mustard cultivation to double the farmers' income. Earlier, most of the land in Kashmir was used only for growing a single crop -- paddy in most areas but now farmers are rotating crops in Kharif and Rabi seasons just like in other parts of the country. There is still many challlanges which are hurdle in high production goal. Insect biodiversity is associated with the quantity and type of host plants available, environmental factors, and their physiological state. Arthropod complex of mustard was studied and about eight species of insects-pests at Mountain Research centre for field crops (MRCFC) during Rabi 2020 -21 was recorded. It has been observed that the mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi Kalt., persists constantly in a sizable population and causes substantial crop damage from the blossoming to the maturity stage. Phyllotreta cruciferae Goeze (flea beetle) occurred at the seedling stage, and Carpocoris sp. (shield bug) caused little harm to the crop from the seedling to the maturity stage. Leaves have been only infested by cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae, mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt.), and mustard leaf miner, Chromatomyia horticola, and they been detected in sporadic, low-population occurrences. Among them, Brevicoryne brassicae is found at flowering stage. Pieris brassicae, the cabbage butterfly, occurs sporadically and with high abundance. The status of all eight insect-pests on Brassica species was observed as minor with irregular occurrence while L. erysimi as a regular key pest.six Insect pollinators were recorded during the bloom period of the crop.