Applied Biological Research
  • Year: 2013
  • Volume: 15
  • Issue: 2

Population fluctuations of root mealy bug, Paraputo sp. (Hemiptera: pseudococcidae), – A dreaded pest of mulberry in darjeeling hills of West Bengal (India)

  • Author:
  • Debojit Das, H. Chatterjee1, M.V. Santha Kumar, S.K. Mukhopadhyay, N.K. Das, A.K. Saha, B. B. Bindroo2, S. Nirmal Kumar
  • Total Page Count: 4
  • Page Number: 159 to 162

1Palli Siksha Bhavana, Viswa Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal (India)

2Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysore, Karnataka -570 008 (India)

Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Berhampore, West Bengal -742 101 (India)

*E-mail: debu42_das@rediffmail.com

Online published on 12 December, 2013.

Abstract

Root mealy bug Paraputo sp. (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is the most dreaded pest of mulberry (Morus sp.), in Darjeeling hills of West Bengal (India). The pest incidence recorded at monthly intervals for three consecutive years revealed that the pest population was low in December-January, increased with rise in temperature and relative humidity upto rainy season (July-August) and then gradually declined. The peak population of 50.88–52.05 plant−1 was in August. No significant variation was observed between the years in population fluctuations.

Keywords

Darjeeling hills, mulberry, pest, population fluctuations, root mealy bug, silkworm