Population abundance of leaf-eating caterpillars of cabbage

Abstract

This study was conducted in the experimental field of Entomology Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur during October 2014 to April 2015 to know the population abundance of leaf-eating caterpillars, namely prodania caterpillar, Spodoptera litura and diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella attacking cabbage in Bangladesh. The lowest population of both DBM and prodania larvae per plant was found during November and January whereas the highest population per plant was recorded during September and March 2014 and 2015, respectively. The same trend were observed in case of the adult population in the sex pheromone trap catch. The adult prodania caterpillar population was the highest during October-November and March. During December population declined totally in the month of January. The highest diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) population was observed during November and March. During the last week of December population again declined entirely which continued until the last week of January. S. litura population was always higher than that of diamondback moth (DBM). There is a positive correlation between the rise of temperature with the population buildup of both S. litura and P. xylostella in cabbage. Especially when the mean temperature declined below 15˚C then the population of both the pest became nil.

Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 44(1): 79-87, March 2019