Study on Insect Pest Complex and their Natural Enemies in Mango

Abstract

The experiment were conducted on Study of insect pest complex and their natural enemies in mango which were carried out at Agriculture and Horticulture Research Station, Ullal, Mangalore during, January to May-2023. Among various species of insect pests we were recorded only 8 insect pest of mango crop during this experimental period, among them, only five major insect pest infestation was sever during this period viz., Thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, Rhipiphorothrips cruentatus Hood), fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis and B. correcta) and leaf webber (Orthaga euadrusalis Walker). At some point we were documented 05 natural enemies (spiders, coccinellids, chrysopids, dragonfly and mantid) on mango tree at different crop growth stages. Amongst, spider and coccinellids remained active throughout the year. All the insect pests were either significant or non-significant but positively associated with each other except for leaf webber who was negatively correlated with thrips, fruit fly, termite, spiders and coccinellids. And highly significant positive correlation was found between the natural enemies’ viz., spiders and coccinellids in the mango crop ecosystem.