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The fauna of spiders which is a significant part of agriculture ecosystem was observed in 8 crop fields during the kharif. The spiders were caught from June-October, using sweep nets. The total numbers of spider species were 37 representing 12 families. Araneidae was the most abundant family, followed by Thomisidae, Salticidae, Oxyopidae, Tetragnathidae, Clubionidae, Dictynidae, Gnaphosidae, Lycosidae, Sparassidae, Theridiidae and Ulboridae. The species diversity index (H`) was 4.98 and the Equitability index (EH) was 0.95. An ordination of correspondence analysis demonstrated a bunching of the spiders commencing to paddy fields was more as compared to other crops. Thus, paddy seemed to give better natural niche for the spiders than other field crops. Increasing use of pesticides is the main menace to the several species and their survival in agroecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six plant powders viz. neem leaf powder, neem seed powder, neem cake powder, curry leaf powder, chili fruit powder and bael leaf powder each at 5 g/ kg and mustard oil at 5 ml/ kg of powder grains were evaluated for their effectiveness as grain protectants against Callosobruchus chinensis on green gram in storage. The results revealed that mustard oil and neem seed powder were more effective. The order of efficacy of remaining treatments was neem cake > neem leaf powder > curry leaf powder > chili fruit powder > bael leaf powder which were significantly superior over control. It was also found that treatments do not affect the germination of seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of efficacy of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) and cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) seed powder against Callosobruchus chinensis L. infesting green gram revealed a dose-dependent adult mortality and a positive correlation with period of exposure. A complete adult mortality was observed with P. nigrum seed powder @ 1 g/100 g seed as against 60% adult mortality with C. cyminum at 72 hr after treatment (HAT). The LC50 values of P. nigrum and C. cyminum seed powders were observed as 0.16 and 1.47 g/100 g of seed at 48 HAT. Both P. nigrum and C. cyminum seed powders showed strong ovicidal properties, and affecting the adult emergence to an extent of 0 and 6% when used @ 10 g/100 g seed as against 90-91% in untreated control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten green gram genotypes (K 851, GM 4, Meha, VMS 6 (GM-5), IPM 205-7 (Virat), Vaibhav, AKM-6802, CO-5, AKM-8803 and PM-2) were screened for their resistance to the sucking pests. The field experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm, JAU, Junagadh during summer 2018. None of the varieties proved highly resistant to the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) and thrips Megalurothrips distalis (Karny); however, Meha, IPM 205-7 (Virat), and VMS 6 (GM-5) were found resistant. The varieties Vaibhav, CO-5 and PM-2 have been classified as moderately resistant (MR) to B. tabaci and AKM- 6802 was moderately susceptible (MS) to both the pests. The susceptible (S) category included the AKM-8803, GM-4, and K-851 varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to assess the field performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based sprayer for pesticide application in green gram crop in Punjab during 2018 and 2019. The treatments include: T1- control (untreated); T2- pesticide application with knapsack sprayer; and T3- pesticide application with UAV based sprayer. The droplet size was significantly small in T3 (200.34 to 253.01 µm) compared to T2 (463.88 to 738.80 µm). The droplet density was significantly more in T3 compared to T2 at top, middle and bottom of the crop canopy. The maximum reduction in whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) incidence was observed three days after spray in T3 (36.84 and 42.72%) and T2 (28.71 and 29.70%). Thus, UAV based sprayer was found to be more effective producing smaller droplets, more droplets/ unit area, and in controlling B. tabaci in green gram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic diversity analysis of bruchid resistant accessions helps in identifying efficient genetic stock for resistance breeding programs. Eighteen mung bean accessions having moderate to high levels of resistance were genetically differentiated using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Eight SSRs marker (CEDG037, CEDG021, CEDG044, CEDG127, CEDG154, CEDG178, CEDG214 and CEDG305), were found polymorphic and thus useful for complete transferability of resistant QTL/genes to a susceptible variety. The maximum number of SSR bands was amplified by the primer CEDG-305. The PIC value of primers ranged from 0.32 to 0.49 with mean of 0.42. Resolving power ranged from 1.01-1.36. The unweighted neighbour-joining (UNJ) dendrogram constructed on the basis of genetic similarity matrix grouped the 18 genotypes into two major clusters. Cluster I comprised of three genotypes such as KM-7-134, KM-11-32 and KM-12-5 and Cluster II comprised of remaining, further divided into Cluster II A (14 genotypes) and Cluster II B (M1319B). Mung bean accessions KM-11-10 and PS-16 can be considered for reducing the storage loss, as these were found relatively resistant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orientation of Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) towards seven coloured light emitting diodes was observed under three conditions at different time intervals. In multi-choice test, C. chinensis adults were more attracted towards green (13.13 to 13.80%), blue (12.13 to 13.73%) and ultraviolet (13.20 to 14.20%) LEDs which have shorter wavelengths and high frequencies, while white (control) (7.20 to 9.67%) and red (6.13 to 8.40%) LEDs having longer wavelengths and low frequencies showed the least preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of foliar application of imidacloprid 17.8%SL (0.33 ml/l), acetamiprid 20%SP (0.4 g/l), thiamethoxam 25%WG (0.5 g/l), quinalphos 25%EC (2.0 ml/l), neem oil 2% (20 ml/l) and karanj oil 2% (20 ml/l) were evaluated against leafhopper Empoasca kerri Pruthi in green gram. The most effective insecticides were imidacloprid > thiamethoxam > acetamiprid, with maximum reduction in incidence after seven days of application of second spray being 82.82 and 75.05% due to imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the influence of weather factors on the abundance of predators in untreated fields of green gram during kharif 2018-19 at the Insectary, Department of Entomology, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur. The results revealed that the arthropod predators are influenced by temperature (maximum, minimum), relative humidity (maximum and minimum), rainfall and sunshine hours. Coccinella transversalis F. and C septempunctata L. were the most common, while syrphids, ants and spiders were less. Correlation coefficients revealed that C. transversalis is significantly influenced by sunshine hours and wind speed (r= 0.6674; 0.5582, respectively); and sunshine hours had a positive correlation (r=0.6463), but a negative one (r=-0.5706) with C. septempunctata. The syrphids, spiders and ants revealed a significant negative correlation with minimum temperature(r= -0.5951, 0.6077 and 0.6786, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]