Effect of meteorological parameters on abundance of mirid bug, Nesidiocoris cruentatus (Ballard) (Hemiptera: Miridae): An emerging insect pest of bottle gourd.

Abstract

Bottle gourd or Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl., of the family Cucurbitaceae, is a climbing perennial plant widely cultivated round the year as a vegetable crop across the country.This crop is often attacked by a number of insect pests throughout its growth period. Apart from its regular pests, recently serious incidence of a mirid bug,Nesidiocoris cruentatus (Ballard) was observed on tender leaves and young fruits in many parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. On tender leaves, a minute puncture spot with yellow hallow were observed. The damage was more prominent in young fruits. Brown puncture spots with on the rind with sap oozing out from the tender fruits was the characteristic symptoms of this sucking pests. The affected fruits often failed to fetch a good market price. During this period, the damage by this pest was so serious that chemical control was almost inevitable. Farmers of this region often used to apply around 4-5 rounds of synthetic insecticides to control this ligophagous pest. This practices have led to many fold problems like resistance to insecticides, resurgence of target insects and secondary pest outbreak, in addition to insecticide residues in food and beverages, contamination of groundwater, adverse effect on human health, and widespread killing of non-target organisms (Halder et al., 2012; 2014).