First Report of Fruit Borer Cadra Cautella (Walker) on Ber in Punjab
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E: 20004- Sandeep (Preview) Indian Journal of Entomology, Review Article (2020) DoI No.: FIRST REPORT OF FRUIT BORER CADRA CAUTELLA (WALKER) ON BER IN PUNJAB SANDEEP SINGH*, P R SHASHANK1 AND RAJWINDER KAUR SANDHU Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004 1Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi110012 *Email: [email protected] (corresponding author) ABSTRACT A study was conducted to investigate the occurrence of new insect pests in the ber orchards in Punjab during 2017 and 2018. The infestation of fruit borer, Cadra cautella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was observed in ber fruits at Fruit Research Farm, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during November-December. About 10% fruits of variety Sanaur were observed to be infested by black larvae making tunnels inside fruits. The pest is widespread in the stored conditions infesting stored cereals, dry fruits in warehouses but as far as field is concerned, this is the first report of field infestation of ber fruits from Punjab as well as in India. Key words: Fruit borer, ber, Punjab, Cadra cautella, Pyralidae, new report, fruits, tunnels, leaf and fruit webbing, distribution, hosts, diagnosis The ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) is one of the eating caterpillar, Indarbela quadrinotata (Walker); most ancient cultivated fruit trees of north India. It is leaf roller, Psorosticha zizyphi (Stainton); American believed to be originated in Indo-Malaysian region of bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner); castor South-East Asia (Janick and Paull, 2008) and is widely semilooper, Achaea (=Acanthodelta) janata Linnaeus; cultivated from southern Africa to Indian subcontinent, castor capsule borer, Conogethes punctiferalis (Guenee); China, Indomalaya, Australia and Pacific Islands. It is tussock moths, Euproctis basilis Moore and Euproctis also known as ‘desert apple’ and in India, it is a major lunata Walker; defoliating beetles, viz. Adoretus sp., fruit crop of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Myllocerus undecimpustulatus Faust, Anomala sp. Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Apogonia sp.; tortoise beetles, viz. Platypria Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. In India, ber is cultivated in 50 erinaceousWeise,Cassida exilis Boheman, Oocassida thousand ha (Anonymous, 2018), and in Punjab in 1767 pudibunda Bohemanand Glyphocassis trilineata ha with yield of 16766 kg/ha and 29626 mt production (Hope); six-spotted flea beetle, Scelodonta strigicollis (Anonymous, 2019). This fruit crop is highly adaptable (Motschulsky); weevils, Xanthochelus faunus (Olivier) to adverse climatic conditions; however, yield losses and Hypolixus truncatulus Fabricius, flower feeding due to insect-pests do occur. More than 130 species beetle, Oxycetonia versicolor (Fabricius); chrysomelid of insects are known to infest ber in India, but only beetle, Diapromorpha sp., and Cryptocephalus few have attained the status of pest (Lakra and Bhatti, sp.; carpet beetle, Anthrenus sp., net winged flower 1985). The pests such as fruit fly (Carpomyiavesuviana beetle, Lycostomus sp., termites, Odentotermes sp. Costa), chafer beetle (Holotrichia sp.) and bark eating and Microtermes sp.; jujube mite, Eriophyes cernuus caterpillars (Indarbelatetraonis Moore, I. quadrinotata Massee and jujube false spider mite, Larvacarus Walker) are major pests (Karuppaiah et al., 2010). tranitansi (Ewing) and thrips, Scitrothrips dorsalis (Hood).Intensive farming operations, introduction Singh (2016) reported 37 insect and mite pests of improved varieties and irrigation methods lead to infesting ber in Punjab, and these belong to the orders unpredictable change in pests of ber. Keeping this Coleoptera (17), PREVIEWLepidoptera (8), Hemiptera (6), Isoptera in view, surveys were made in Punjab to record the (2), Diptera (2) and Acari (2). These include fruit flies, emerging insect pests infesting ber. Carpomyia vesuviana Costa and Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel); hopper, Qadria pakistanica (Ahmed); lac MATERIALS AND METHODS insect, Kerria lacca (Kerr); mealy bugs, Planococcus citri (Risso), Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green) and Roving surveys were carried out throughout Drosicha sp.; wax scale, Drepanococcus chiton (Green); the ber growing regions of Punjab during 2017 and Jujube butterfly,Tarucus theophrastus (Fabricius); bark 2018. Fixed and plot surveys were carried out in the 2 Indian Journal of Entomology, Review Article 2020 Fruit Research Farm, Punjab Agricultural University, as: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Ludhiana (30°54’02.8”N and 75°47’34.3”E) to Bhutan, Brazil, Croatia, India, Iran, Kenya, Nepal, Laos, record the incidence of new insect pests. Twenty ber Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, trees were randomly observed to record the presence Egypt, South Africa and Germany (Lep Intercept, 2014). or absence of insect pests as well as their level of intensity. The ber fruits were found to be infested with India: Pantnagar, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, severe infestation of a fruit borer. Infested fruits were Kanpur, Haryana, Mysore, Manipur, Punjab (Rahman collected and the emerging larvae were reared in the and Khan, 1944; Ramzan and Singh, 1982). Fruit Entomology Laboratory, Department of Fruit Other hosts: Citrus, chocolate, stored tobacco, Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab. The specimens of adults were sent to National Pusa Collection, Division of Entomology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India for identification and it was identified as Cadracautella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION During surveys, C. cautella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) has been recorded on ber fruits for the first time in Punjab during 2017 and 2018. The larvae of C. cautella were observed infesting fruits during the months of November-December. About 10 per cent fruits of variety Sanaur were observed to be infested by black a larvae. The larvae were elongated caterpillars feeding on the pulp of fruits and making tunnels through the fruit (Fig. 1a). They feed from the surface of the fruit and continue inside making webs in the fruit. In case of heavy infestation, the whole fruit from inside was eaten up and damaged while the outer surface of the fruit had holes of entrance. Fruits get dried, empty and turn brown. Brownish excreta were observed near the entry hole on the surface of the fruit. Webbing by the borer results in joining of damaged fruits with the leaves (Fig.1b) and joining two fruits with each other (Fig. 1c). Cadra cautella is also known as dried currant moth, b tropical warehouse moth and fig moth. Oviposition takes place on the fruits which are partially dried. Eggs are laid singly on fruits, are whitish in colour, turning to pale yellow near hatching. Eggs take 2-3 days for hatching and newly emerged larva are creamish-white in colour. Head is broader than body and yellowish brown in colour. Larval stage passes through six instars and enters into pre-pupal stage. Pupae are light yellow in colour and thenPREVIEW turn into dark brown before adult emergence. Adults are light grey in colour while head and thorax are dark grey (Fig. 2). Female adults are larger in size than males (Rathod, 1989). c Distribution: Cadra cautellais a cosmopolitan pest Fig. 1. Infestation of Cadra cautella on ber: a. that has been recorded on dried plant materials and Larva feeding on fruit; b. Damaged fruit webbed stored products from tropical and subtropical regions with leaf; c. Two fruits webbed together 3 Indian Journal of Entomology, Review Article 2020 median lobes (Fig. 2b). Female ovipositor short and partially sclerotised on dorsal surface. Ductus bursae with longitudinal sclerite (Fig. 2c). This species can be confused with Plodia interpunctella (Indian meal moth) but can be differentiated from a dark band separating the two differently coloured halves of the forewing of the forewings in Indian meal moth. Cadra cautella, also known as almond moth is widely spread in the tropics and subtropics. It is a serious pest of dried fruits and stored grain products. Damaging stage is the larval stage. Moths are generally more abundant during rainy and humid seasons (Srivastava and Subramanian, 2016). Heavy infestation of C. cautella has been reported on tree beans, Parkia timoriana, a leguminous plant, both in field and in storage at Manipur, India (Thangjam et al., 2003). This is the only report of field infestation of this borer. Field infestation on inflorescence and pods continued into stored conditions causing extensive damage in sealed b bags. Cadra cautella has been identified as the cause of premature fruit drop in Pinus roxburghii during 2014 and 2015 at Manipur, India (Ningombam et al., 2018). This borer is also reported as serious pest on date fruits c both in field and in storage conditions in Saudi Arabia (Rees, 2007; Aldawood et al., 2013, Husain et al., 2017). According to Alwaneen et al., (2019) primary infestation of this pest initiated in the field when date fruits were still on the trees and continued to storage. The study revealed that ber is a new host tree of C. cautella and this pest has not been reported so far in the field conditions in Punjab, India. This is the first report of the occurrence of C. cautella on ber fruits in the orchard during the months of November to February and serious damage was observed on ber fruits. The borer is generally reported as widely distributed under d storage conditions and as a serious pest of stored Fig. 2. Cadra