Incidence of Nanaguna sp. and Perixera sp. on cashew flowers – Emerging potential menaces in cashew production

Abstract

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a tree nut crop grown in many parts of the world, having good export potential due to its multiple uses in bakery, confectionery, cosmetics, and varied industrial use of the by-products especially cashewnut shell liquid. In India, it is grown in an area of 11.05 lakh hectares. The annual production of cashewnuts in 2018-19 was 7.43 lakh tonnes of cashew (DCCD, 2019). Among the biological constraints, pests are important yield limiting factors in cashew. Tea mosquito bugs and cashew stem and root borers are the two important pests causing significant yield loss in many cashew growing countries. Apart from these two pests, there are few occasional and region-specific secondary pests. Information on the pest species complex, their relative abundance and damage potential is important in the changing pest scenario to understand the pest status of cashew and devise plant protection activities.