Documentation of the Major Insect Pest of Cabbage and Their Associated Natural Enemies in Bihar, North-eastern India

Abstract

The present investigation was conducted at farm of ICAR-Research Centre for Eastern Region (ICAR-RCER), Patna, Bihar during 2020-21.Geographically, ICAR-RCER, Patna is located at 25o35`30`` N latitude, 85o05`03`` E longitude, at an altitude 52m above mean sea level. The climate of the region is warm and temperate which is characterized by extremes of the temperature both during summer and winter. During summer, temperature may rise as high as 390C and in winter it may fall as low as 2-30C.The total annual average rain fall is 1130mm. This region provides a safe long growing season for most of the crops. Diamond back moth was found to be the most serious insect pest of cabbage. The infestation appeared during first week of January (SMW1) at vegetative stage and remained present up to the harvesting of the crop i.e. 11th SMW. Among the natural enemies, two species of coccinellids (Coccinella septempunctata, C. transversalis), one larval parasitoid (Cotesia plutellae) and one Syrphid fly (Toxomerus geminatus) and one unidentified spider was observed during crop period.