Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems

The study on the incidence, intensity and management of bark eating caterpillar Indarbela sp. revealed that in low hills of Himachal Pradesh the incidence varied between 91.5 and 98.0 per cent in citrus, litchi, mango and guava orchards with litchi as the most preferred host (with caterpillar incidence index value of 3.95). In mid hills, the incidence ranged between 90.0–94.5 per cent in plum, apricot and pear orchards. Based on the index of caterpillar incidence value, plum was the most preferred host (6.67). In high hills the incidence of pest was negligible (0.0–7.0%). The poorly managed orchards of mango and citrus were more prone to attack with an incidence of 88 and 92 per cent in comparison to 20 and 24 per cent in well managed orchards, respectively. Young orchards were less prone to bark eating caterpillar infestation with an incidence of 16 and 20 per cent in comparison to 88 and 80 per cent in old orchards of mango and citrus, respectively. Among different management practices evaluated in plum orchards, thrusting of flexible wire plus plugging the hole with mud; thrusting of wire plus pouring of methyl parathion (0.1%) in bore hole with syringe and plugging with mud, and thrusting of wire plus pouring of DDVP (0.15%) and plugging with mud proved very effective (90–100% control) in managing the pest.