Effect of leaf characteristics of sweet gourd germplasms on the population abundance and infestation of epilachna beetle (Epilachna spp.)
The phytophagous insect epilachna beetle (Epilachna spp.) is a threat to the cultivation of different cucurbit crops including sweet gourd (Cucurbita moschata). Host plant itself can influence the infestation of insect by different means. Therefore, investigations were done on the population abun...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pusat Sistematik Serangga, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2022
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/19365/1/50302-181122-1-PB.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/19365/ https://ejournal.ukm.my/serangga/issue/view/1475/showToc |
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| Institution: | Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | The phytophagous insect epilachna beetle (Epilachna spp.) is a threat to the cultivation of
different cucurbit crops including sweet gourd (Cucurbita moschata). Host plant itself can
influence the infestation of insect by different means. Therefore, investigations were done on
the population abundance and infestation level of epilachna beetle on sweet gourd and to find
out the relationship between the abundance of the beetle and the morphological as well as
biochemical characteristics of the leaves. The study was conducted in the field and laboratory
of the Department of Entomology, Bangabadhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural
University, Gazipur, Bangladesh from July 2018 to June 2019 with 12 sweet gourd
germplasms. Among the germplasms, BD 264 showed the lowest abundance of grub (3.1±0.3
grubs/ 3 leaves), and BD 264 and BD 266 revealed statistically similar and the lowest
abundance of the adult beetles (1.7±0.1 adults/ 3 leaves in both the cases). The level of leaf
infestation among the germplasms varied significantly and ranged from 6.2% to 16.4%. The
abundance of adult beetles was positively correlated with the number of leaf plant-1, but leaf
area and trichomes (r = -0.994 and -0.991 for BD 264 and BD 266, respectively) exerted
negative relationship. Moisture (r = 0.998 for BD 269), total chlorophyll, reducing sugar and
ash content (r = 0.997 for BD 269) in the leaves of the germplasms showed positive influence
on the abundance of beetle, but protein content was negatively correlated. The leaf
characteristics of sweet gourd which were found to be responsible to alter the infestation of
Epilachna spp. can be incorporated in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy. |
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