Comparative susceptibility of commercial cultivars of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum var Grossum Sendt) to major insect pests in West Bengal Ghose Mousumi1,*, Bhattacharya Swarnali2, Mandal SK3 1O/o The JOINT Director of Agriculture (PP & QC), 230 A, NSC Bose Road, Kolkata700040West Bengal, India 2Department of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Agriculture, Palli-Siksha Bhavana Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, 731236West Bengal, India 3Depatrment of Agricultural Entomology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, 741252West Bengal, India *Email for correspondence: dhararchis@gmail.com
Online Published on 20 December, 2022. Abstract A field experiment was conducted at Barasat II Block, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal in two consecutive rabi seasons of 2017 and 2018 to study the relative susceptibility of different commercial cultivars of bell pepper to major insect pests infesting it. Ten recommended commercial cultivars of bell pepper viz Indra, Asha, Biotara, KSP 1070, Fiza, Lakshmi, Arya, Super Gold, Ayesha and Mahabharath were planted on 15 November each year to know their relative susceptibility to the major insect pests namely thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood), aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover, Myzus persicae Sulzer), whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner) and chilli mite (Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks). Pest population studies revealed that the varieties Indra, Asha, Biotara and Fiza were relatively less susceptible to all the major pests of bell pepper, whereas, Super Gold, Mahabharath, Ayesha and Arya were relatively more susceptible. The variety Indra resulted in less damage score (0.82) after 120 days of planting which resulted in enhancement of yield (15.97 tonnes/ha) and benefit-cost ratio (0.60). Coloured varieties of bell pepper were more vulnerable to pest infestation. Top Keywords Bell pepper, Cultivars, Major insect pests, Susceptibility. Top |