Screening Wild and Cultivated Okra Species for Reistance to Important Pests

Ten Abelmoschus esculentus cultivars and 21 wild lines belonging to nine Abelmoschus species were evaluated for resistance to jassid (Amrasca biguttula biguttula), whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and shoot and fruit borer (Earias spp.) in naturally infested fields for three seasons (summer and Kharif, 2004 and summer, 2005) at Rahuri. The results of screening for three seasons revealed that wild A. moschatus lines 1,2,3,4 and 5 were found to have least jassid (nymph) population per leaf while A. moschatus lines 1,2,3,4 and 5 and A. angulosus were found to have minimum mean whitefly (adult) population per leaf. Therefore, the above wild species were found resistant to jassid and whitefly incidence, respectively. Further, the study revealed that A. tuberculatus lines 1,2 and 3 were found immune to fruit borer infestation while A. tuberculatus lines 1,2 and 3, A. tetraphyllus lines 2,3,4 and 5 and A. manihot spp. tetraphyllus were found completely free from shoot borer infestation. However, none of the cultivated A. esculentus cultivars screened for three seasons was found resistant to above pests of okra.