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Not AvailablePlant hopper, Platybrachys leucostigma (Walker) is one of the important sucking insects feeding on eucalyptus plants. The hoppers and nymphs suck the sap and devitalize the plant. Although several parasites were reported on the eggs, for the first time egg feeding predatory syrphid, Allobaccha amphithoe (Walker) was observed on the egg capsule of P. leucostigma. Eggs are inserted into the capsule by the adult female and the ensuing maggots fed on the eggs. The total life cycle of the syrphid fly is completed in 14-15 days. Egg parasitoid, Proleurocerus litoralis was also found to parasitize the eggs of P. leucostigma.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableAcerophagus papayae Noyes & Schauff, a solitary endoparasitoid of Paracoccus marginatus William Granara DeWillink which parasitizes the early stage nymphs was released in India during 2010 for biological control of papaya mealybug. It could substantially reduce the incidence of P. marginatus within a span of 6-8 months. There were no parasitoids reported on A. papayae so far from any part of the world. Marietta leopardina and Chartocerus sp. hyperparasitoids of other mealybugs recorded in India were for the first time found to parasitize A. papayae by upto 1.25 per cent and 1.09% respectively. Under laboratory rearing, the time required for emergence of M. leopardina was found to be 12-16 days and that of Chartocerus sp was 12-15 days.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableHoney bees which are the dominant pollinators of sesamum when studied revealed that maximum foraging activity for nectar and pollen collection was observed during morning hours of the day in case of all three species (Apis cerana, A. dorsata and A. florea). The mean number of nectar foragers of A. cerana, A. dorsata and A. florea was 3.18, 1.99 and 2.08 bees/m2/5 min, respectively and pollen foragers of A. cerana, A. dorsata and A. florea was 3.06, 1.86 and 1.87 bees/m2/5 min, respectively; and nectar and pollen foragers was almost equal for three species. The bees spent more time while collecting pollen in sesamum flowers. A. florea spent more time for pollen and nectar collection (8.93 and 7.41 sec/flower, respectively) as compared to A. cerana (6.51 and 4.57 sec/flower, respectively) and A. dorsata (6.70 and 5.95 sec/flower, respectively).Not Availabl

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Not AvailableIn sesamum bees are the best pollinators which contribute nearly 80% of the total insect pollination (Thapa, 2006). Sesamum is a source of honey for beekeepers primarily because it flowers in mid-summer when not much of other crops are in bloom. It also attracts various other bees and insects that feed on its pollen or nectar; however, honey bees are the primary visitors (Langham, 1941).Not Availabl

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Not AvailableForaging activity of Apis cerana in sesamum crop during pre and post spray of Citral-a (10 µl/l), Citral-b (10 µl/l), Geranial (10 µl/l), Vanilla flavor (200 µl/l), Pineapple flavor (200 µl/l), Mango flavor (200 µl/l), Chocholate flavor (200 µl/l) and Rose white flavor (200 µl/l) attractants indicated that Apis cerana bees were mostly attracted to very few attractants and scents. Citral-a was found to be a good attractant for bees followed by Citral-b and Geraniol. The effect of attractants sprayed remained up to third day of spraying. Other treatments like Vanilla flavor, Pineapple flavor did not show any increase in bee visitation over the unsprayed controlNot Availabl

Neotype designation and redescription of Inostemma indicum (Platygastroidea: Platygastridae) parasitizing ivy gourd gall midge

Kamalanathan, Veenakumari, Shylesha, A. N., Mohanraj, Prashanth (2018): Neotype designation and redescription of Inostemma indicum (Platygastroidea: Platygastridae) parasitizing ivy gourd gall midge. Zootaxa 4420 (3): 439-444, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4420.3.

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Not AvailableSesamum is a highly cross pollinated crop, rich in oil and protein. Pollination is mostly performed by insects. Any material to increase honey bee visits to specific crop would be of great practical value to harness the benefits of cross pollination. There are very few studies on the role of bee attractants enhancing bee visitation and yield in sesame crop. Hence, the present investigations were undertaken. Apis cerana caged plots was best among all treatments showing significant effects. In caged condition with A. cerana, plants had more capsules per plant (54.00), capsule length (23.24 mm), capsule width (7.22 mm) number of seeds per capsule (54.57), test weight (3.92 g), germination (92.00 %) and vigour index (1261). Citral-a and Citral-b followed by Geraniol were the next best treatments after caged condition with A. cerana colony. Oil content, weight of green capsule did not differ significantly among the various treatments. We conclude that by keeping Apis cerana bee colonies in sesamum, yield can be enhanced. Application of Citral-a, Citral-b and Geraniol is also beneficial in enhancing the yield.Not Availabl

The Compatibility of Natural Enemies and Botanical for Management of Earias vittella (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) and Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Bhendi Ecosystem

Aims: The current study was conducted to know the compatibility of natural enemies and botanical for management bhendi fruit borers in the bhendi field. Study Design:  Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Place and Duration of Study: Experiment conducted during 2019-20 and 2020-21 at ICAR- National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Hebbal, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.  Methodology: Two field tests were conducted  at the entomological research farm, ICAR-NBAIR Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, to know the compatibility of the natural enemies (Trichogramma chilonis Ishii (Hymenoptera:Trichogrammatidae) , Chelonus blackburni (Cameron) and  Bracon brevicornis (Wesmael) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and botanical (Neem oil 0.5%)  for management of E. vittella and H. armigera on bhendi. Arka Nikita (IIHR) bhendi variety was used for the two trials with different treatments in four replication. The release rates of parasitoids were decided based on the previous parasitic potential studies. Results: In the first trial, among the treatments, a combination of T. chilonis + C. blackburni + B. brevicornis and C. blackburni + B. brevicornis recorded the lowest pooled mean larval population reduction over pre-treatment count of E. vittella and were on par with each other, recording 40.19% and 37.27%, respectively followed by T. chilonis + B. brevicornis (31.28%), C. blackburni (30.90%), B. brevicornis (28.64%),  Neem oil 0.5% (27.71%),  Neem oil  0.5% + B. brevicornis  (25.46%) and T. chilonis (25.32%). A similar trend was also observed in combination of T. chilonis + C. blackburni + B. brevicornis and C. blackburni + B. brevicornis against H. armigera, which accounted for 47.19% and 37.22% of reduction over pre-treatment count in the respective treatment combination of parasitoids. The next best treatments were T. chilonis + B. brevicornis (28.21%), C. blackburni (26.56%), B. brevicornis (22.21%), Neem oil 0.5% (20.37%), T. chilonis (17.31%) and Neem oil 0.5% + B. brevicornis (16.07%) Conclusion: From this study we recommend that, for bhendi fruit borers management, release of parasitoids like T. chilonis + C. blackburni + B. brevicornis at 50,000+1000+1000 adults/ha, respectively in bhendi field starting from 35 DAS at 15 days’ intervals of duration, two-time release of parasitoids is enough later, they have augmented and reduce the population of fruit borer larvae effectively

The Parasitic Potential of Bracon brevicornis Wesmael and Chelonus blackburni (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on the Age of Earias vittella (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) and Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Laboratory Conditions

Aims: The current study was carried out to investigate the parasitic potential of density of two important parasitoids against the age of two important bhendi fruit borer pests. Study Design:  Completely Random Design (CRD). Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted during 2019-20 and 2020-21 at bio control laboratory of National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (ICAR) Hebbal, Bengaluru (Latitude: 13.097221 Longitude: 77.568291) by adopting standard methodology and materials. Methodology: An experiment was designed to examine the effects of parasitoid densities of  Bracon brevicornis and Chelonus blackburni on the  host age (different  instars) larvae of fruit borers two important fruit borers by checking the the percent parasitization. The second, third, and fourth instar larvae of E. vittella were introduced separately at different ratios of  Bracon brevicornis parasitoids and host viz., 1:10, 2:10, 3:10, 4:10, and 5:10. Mated female parasitoids were utilised in all cases, and the experiment was carried out in a glass jar of 18 x 12 cm, using the sandwich approach. [1] with four replications. After 24 h, the larvae were observedand the percent parasitization was calculated. The same parasitoids were used for thesecond, third, fourth, and fifth instars larvae of H. armigera. To examine the parasitic potential of C. blackburni, another experiment was conducted with various ratios of its adults and eggs of   E. vittella and H. armigera by adopting the procedure of Swamiappan and Balasubramanian [2].  The parasitoid and host eggs were maintained at a ratio of 1:100, 2:100, 3:100, 4:100, and 5:100 with four replications. The observation of percent parasitization was recorded after the egg incubation period. Results: The parasitic potential studies showed that the parasitoid host ratio of 5:10 (100%) was the best for E. vittella (II, III and IV instar larvae) with the highest parasitization followed by 4:10 (96.83 %), 3:10 (85.08 %), 2:10 (61.71 %) and least parasitization was observed in 1:10 parasitoid host ratio (52.71 %). Similarly, for H. armigera (II, III, IV and V instar larvae) parasitoid host ratio of 5:10 was recorded the highest parasitization (96.75 %), followed by 4:10 (93.69 %), 3:10 (84.11 %), 2:10 (64.75 %) and least parasitization was observed in 1:10 parasitoid host ratio (45.07 %) The parasitic potential of C. blackburni revealed that the 5:100 parasitoid host ratio resulted in the maximum parasitization of 64.75% against E. vittella, followed by 4:100 (60.50%), 3:100 (52.55%), 2:100 (38.27%), and 1:100 (25.60%). Similarly, for H. armigera, parasitization was highest at a parasitoid host ratio of 5:100, followed by 4:100 (64.50%), 3:100 (58.25%), 2:100 (43.45%), and 1:100 (28.50%). Conclusion: The parasitoids: host ratio of 5:10 for B. brevicornis and 5:100 for C. blackburni is optimal for managing the bhendi fruit borer complex at the IV instar level

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Not AvailableThe encyrtid Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes and Schauff was recovered for the first time from the papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink in India in 2011-12 after 10 to 20 months of release in Bangalore and also in Pune in April 2012. However, parasitism by P. mexicana on P. marginatus did not exceed more than five per cent in both the locations.Not Availabl