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Not AvailableThe experiment was carried out in polyhouse condition to study the potency of entomopathogenic fungi for the management of whiteflies on gerbera. Studies showed Beauveria bassiana and Lecanicillium lecanii to effect 70.81 and 85.65% and 69.54 and 84.90% mortality over control inthe first and second trial respectively. M. anisopliae caused 77.86 and 74.35% mortality while spirotetramat caused 79.41 and 96.93% and Buprofezin 72.67 and 99.95 % mortality.The differences among the treatments were larger during the first 14 days, but decreased thereafter, becoming insignificant after the second spray. On 14 th day of second spray, the mortality caused by fungal pathogens was reduced to 23-45% while chemicals caused 31- 49% and were significantly on par with each other. This study shows that entomopathogens can be components in an IPM under moderate levels of whitefly infestations on gerbera in polyhouses.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe efficiency of the native parasitoid, Encarsia transvena Timberlake for the management of greenhouse whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) was studied in cages and a greenhouse in India. Parasitism by Enc. transvena of B. tabaci on Lycopersicon esculentum L. (tomato), Solanum melongena L. (eggplant) and Nicotiana tabacum L. (tobacco) was evaluated in cages to compare the utility of each species as potential banker plants. B. tabaci populations were consistently present on all three host plant species for almost two months providing sufficient hosts for parasitoid multiplication. Significantly more B. tabaci nymphs/unit leaf area were found on N. tabacum (77.7) and on S. melongena (76.5) than L. esculentum (45.9) in the initial growing period of the plants, that increased more on L. esculentum as the crops grew older. A greater proportion of B. tabaci were parasitised by Enc. transvena on L. esculentum than on N. tabacum and S. melongena. Rate of parasitism on L. esculentum was 25.19 and on N. tabacum was 24.70 in greenhouse. Parasitism, although occurring throughout greenhouses, was greatest on plants within 3 metres of introduced banker plants. The results suggest the utility of the three plant species as potential banker plants for the management of whiteflies in greenhouses.Not AvailableNot Availabl

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Not AvailableThe melon borer, Diaphania indica (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is a serious pest of tropical and subtropical cucurbitaceous vegetables. A suitable artificial diet is desirable for producing uniform insects for commercial purposes or research. Four new artificial diets (D-1, D-2, D-3 and D-4) and bitter gourd, the natural host plant of D. indica, were used for rearing D. indica, and the life parameters were compared. The results indicated that insects could complete a full life cycle after 3 generations, only when the larvae were fed bitter gourd or the diet D-1.The new artificial diet, D-1 was formulated based on bitter gourd leaves, Momordica charantia (L.) and chick pea, Cicer arietinum L. Developmental parameters like egg hatching, larval duration and longevity of the adult reared on the D-1 artificial diet were found to be significantly improved relative to the other three diets (D-2, D-3 and D-4), but were not significantly better than those reared on the host-plant bitter gourd. However, the rearing efficiency (i.e., larval - pupal survival, developmental duration of pupa and fecundity of adults,) on the D-1 diet was on par with the rearing efficiency on bitter gourd. There were no significant changes in reproductive potential after five successive generations of rearing on the new diet. These results indicated that the newly developed diet could serve as a viable alternative to bitter gourd plant for continuous rearing of D. indica.Consortia Research Plat fo rm (CRP) on Bo re rs o f Indian C ouncil o f Agricultural Research (ICAR)

On the role of excitonic interactions in carotenoid--phthalocyanine dyads and implications for photosynthetic regulation

In two recent studies, energy transfer was reported in certain phthalocyanine-carotenoid dyads between the optically forbidden first excited state of carotenoids (Car