Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Corresponding author's. E-mail: muralibaskaran2007@rediffmail.com
Field performance of Scymnus coccivora Ramakrishna Ayyar (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera) was assessed for the management of lime mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso). S. coccivora was released in second instar and three-day-old adults at different density of 5, 10, 15 and 20 numbers/infested shoot, separately. S. coccivora at 15 grubs/infested shoot of lime took 42 and 56 days from the release to bring down the population of P. citri by 44.1 (138.2 nos./infested shoot) and 82.7 (42.6 nos./infested shoot) per cent, respectively while at 15 adults/infested shoot, the reduction in population of P.citri was 42.7 (140.8 nos./infested shoot) and 67.2 (80.8 nos./infested shoot) per cent for the same period.
