Influence of intercrops in Coconut on Encarsia guadeloupae Viggiani parasitization of Rugose Spiralling Whitefly Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin Elango K., Nelson S. Jeyarajan Department of Agricultural Entomology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, (Tamil Nadu), India. elaento@gmail.com Online published on 7 April, 2020. Abstract Field survey was undertaken from August 2017 to February 2019 in major coconut growing districts of Tamil Nadu viz., Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, Theni, Pudukottai and Kanyakumari. During the survey on the parastization and emergence of Encarsia guadeloupae on new invasive pest of coconut rugose spiralling whitefly Aleurodicus rugioperculatus. The observation on the incidence of whitefly in coconut garden raised as sole crop and also with intercrops viz., Banana, Pearl millet, Cacao and Nutmug. Among the host plants, coconut and banana were the most preferred host for rugose spiralling whitefly. Assessment of parasitization of Encarsia guadeloupae was carried out in the destructive samples of coconut leaves collected from coconut raised as sole crop and also from coconut raised with intercrops. The results of the observation showed that among all cropping patterns, maximum parasitization of 78.0% was observed in mono crop of banana followed by 70.8% parasitization and 66.3% emergence were observed in coconut + banana. While least parasitization and emergence were observed in coconut + cacao cropping pattern. Eventhough banana is an alternate host for rugose spiralling whitefly, when raised as intercrop with coconut the parasitization of Encarsia guadeloupae on rugose spiralling whitefly increased. Top Keywords Aleurodicus rugioperculatus, Cocos nucifera, Encarsia guadeloupae, Intercroping, Invasive pest. Top |