Effect of planting time on aphid incidence and yield in different varieties of Capsicum

Studies on standardization of planting time and the status of aphid incidence vis a vis planting time were conducted at Kullu valley, Himachal Pradesh, in three varieties viz., California wonder, Yolo wonder and PRC-I under open field conditions. Among the different planting dates, transplantation in the II fort night of April (Yolo wonder (18.84 ± 2.43 aphid/plant; F=51.01; P<0.0001; CD=3.45), California Wonder (19.88 ± 1.67 aphid/plant; F=39.078; P<0.0001; CD=4.37)) and in I fort night of May(PRC-1 (16.12 ± 0.85 aphid/plant; F=80.62; P<0.0001; CD=2.68)) recorded more aphids in all the three varieties. Despite, the presence of more pest incidence, maximum yield was observed in all three varieties of capsicum at II fortnight of April than the other planting dates. Frequent spells during the late May-June not only kept the pest multiplication rate low, but also affected the crop yield which was planted in late May-June. Similar trend was observed in the varieties, CW and YW except PRC-I. The results from the experiments revealed that II fortnight of April is the best time to plant California Wonder and Yolo Wonder varieties of capsicum at Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh under open field conditions.