Anjitha George, C.N. Rao, V.T. Chavan, N.S. Wazire and V.N. Dhengre
Abstract
Surveys were carried out to document the alternate host plants, incidence levels and intensity of bark eating caterpillar (BECP), Indarbela sp. on major citrus cultivars in Maharashtra and Rajasthan region of India during 2014-16. Apart from citrus, 6 fruit trees and 6 forest and avenue trees were recorded as alternate host plants of BECP. The incidence levels were high in >10 year old Nagpur mandarin orchards with infestation levels of 54 and 63 per cent, mean no. of webs/tree of 3.21 and 2.82 and index of caterpillar incidence of 1.73 and 1.78 in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, respectively. Based on orchard management, Nagpur mandarin orchards which were poorly managed and senile were more prone to BECP attack with highest infestation of 84 per cent in Rajasthan while BECP infestation ranged between 5-30 per cent in well managed orchards. Similarly, mean number of webs/tree (1.92-4.70) and index of caterpillar incidence (1.34-3.79) was more in poorly managed orchards as compared to healthy orchards (0-1.3 no. webs/tree; 0.04 caterpillar incidence). In general, incidence of bark eating caterpillar was very low to nil in <5 years old orchards.