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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]

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]