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The invasive mealybugs, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley and Paracoccus marginatus Williams & Granara de Willink (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) are causing significant damage to Gymnema sylvestre in the semi-arid region. This study highlights the nature of the damage, severity of mealy bugs and natural enemy complex association. The severity of infestation was maximum during 23rd and 22nd Standard Meteorological Weeks (SMW) (3.67 and 3.66) of 2019 and 2020, respectively. The pooled data of both the years revealed that temperature has a significant positive correlation and rainfall has a negative correlation towards the severity of the pest incidence with respective r-values of 0.678** and −0.05. A total of 19 different natural enemies identified belong to 7 families of 4 insect orders. Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius) was the most common predator and among the parasitoids, three species of primary parasitoids viz., Aenasius arizonensis (Girault) and Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes & Schauff (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) were more abundant. Besides, six species are hyperparasitoids viz., Aprostocetus sp, Chartocerus sp., Cheiloneurus sp., Homalotylus turkmenicus Myartseva, Marietta leopardina Motschulsky and Prochiloneurus sp. were recorded from primary parasitoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The invasive fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was reported recently in India, in 2018, destroying food and fodder crops. Eocanthecona furcellata (Wolff) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), the native pentatomid predatory bug, expanded its host range by predating on larvae of FAW. The incidence of E. furcellata started during the 36th meteorological standard week and reached its peak population (3.4 adult and 2.4 egg mass/m2) during the 40th MSW. The predator adult female was capable of feeding on 126 ± 4.76, 88 ± 1.37, and 69 ± 1.32 larvae of II, IV, and VI instars of S. frugiperda, respectively. The field performance of E. furcellata was narrowed due to the presence of platygastroid secondary parasitoids viz., Gryon sp., Telenomus sp., and Trissolcus sp. where rate of parasitism due to respective parasitoids reached up to 100, 91.80, and 77.68% Autumn 2019.

A total of 108 diverse sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) accessions were characterized for quantitative and qualitative fodder-related traits and zonate leaf spot (ZLS) (Gloeocercospora sorghi) disease during two successive wet seasons of 2019 and 2020 in augmented randomized block design. The Shannon's diversity index and analysis of variance showed the existence of significant variability among qualitative and quantitative traits. K -mean clustering showed strong relationship between green fodder yield (GFY) and other yield-contributing traits. The dendrogram constructed based on morphological traits classified accessions into four diverse groups and most of genotype fall under cluster II. The principal component analysis bi-plot analysis showed a total variation of 68.96%, where GFY, stem weight per plant, panicle length and dry matter yield (DMY) contributed significantly. From the experimental results, three sorghum genotypes viz., IG-03-424, IG-01-436 and IG-03-438 were identified as promising for higher GFY (808.66 g/plant) and DMY (238.0 g/plant), respectively. Further, based on disease reactions under natural condition, five genotypes viz. , EC-512397, EC512393, EC512394, EC512399 and IG-02-437 were identified as potential donor for resistance to ZLS disease. These selected lines could be used as promising sources for high biomass and disease resistance in forage sorghum breeding programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of high-value, the crops like Brassica have very low pest-damage thresholds, natural enemies alone are unlikely to replace use of high cost insecticides. However, conservation of natural enemy population is possible by avoiding or applying insecticides at reduced rates and use of habitat manipulation techniques such as ecological engineering, used in the present research work. The selected flower crops apart from hosting natural enemy it is also an alternate source of income to farmers. Among the intercrops, cineraria flower crop reported with less number of aphids and even attracted more number of syrphids as well as coccinellids can be exploited to use as intercrop.

Pollination is the most important ecosystem service performed by insect pollinators benefiting more than three quarters of the major crops in the world. Conservation and management of honey bees are an essential part of the sustainable productivity of cross pollinated crops. The present study was conducted to identify the potential pollinator of berseem in Bundelkhand region, which typically represents the subtropical climatic condition. In total, 14 species of insects belonging to seven families of three insect orders were found visiting berseem flowers. The most frequent floral guests were hymenopterans (81 percent) followed by Lepidoptera (13 percent) and Diptera (6 percent) during the winter season of 2017–2018. Apis dorsata was the most dominant floral visitor, whose peak activity was observed between 10.00 AM and 11.00 AM (7.354/m2/10 min). The activities of pollinators were found maximum during the peak flowering stage of berseem. Seeds obtained from open pollinated plots showed a significant increase in yield (383.24 and 491.41 percent) over caged conditions during 2017 and 2018, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeResultsConclusionTuberose (Agave amica [Medik.]) is a vegetatively propagated commercial flower crop with limited genetic variability. Crossing barriers prevailing in tuberose necessitates modern breeding techniques like in vitro mutagenesis to generate variability. Hence, this study aimed to establish an efficient in vitro regeneration protocol for the rapid multiplication of tuberose and optimize the method for in vitro mutagenesis using the terminal stem scale as the explant.MS medium supplemented with 17.74 µM benzyl aminopurine) (BAP) and 0.57 µM indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) showed the maximum number of multiple shoots (5.0), with optimal shoot length (6.77 cm) and number of leaves (6.07). The shoots formed maximum rooting (99.44%) in MS medium supplemented with 4.90 µM indole-3-butyric acid, with an average of 26.89 roots per shoot. In vitro mutagenesis attempted physically via gamma irradiation led to an LD25, 50, 75 values of 13.21, 20.81, 32.79 Gy, respectively. The incorporation of ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) into the culture media at a concentration of 0.08%, 0.13%, and 0.21% effectively resulted in LD25, 50, 75, respectively. Pretreating explants with 0.13% EMS for 15 min, 0.18% EMS for 30 min, 0.14% EMS for 45, and 0.11% EMS for 60 min were optimal for achieving 50% survival and plant regeneration using the regeneration protocol described above.The regeneration protocol and optimized mutagen dose for in vitro mutagenesis developed in this study can be utilized for rapid multiplication of the cultivar and as a tool in genetic improvement programs aimed at inducing variability for commercially significant traits in tuberose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]