(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

Crop Protection Unit

Crop Protection Unit continued the research work on integrated management of insect pest and diseases in rapeseed-mustad

Objectives

• Monitoring of rapeseed-mustard insect pests and bio-control agents.
• To identify critical bio-ecological factors for the development of major insect pests.
• To develop bio control based integrated pest management for mustard aphid and other insect pest
• To identify the source of resistance in rapeseed-mustard using biochemical base
• Pesticide residue studies in Rapeseed-mustard

Future Thrust Areas

• Screening of germplasm for resistance to insect pest.
• Rearing of Bio-agent Viz. Coccinella septempunctata and standardization of artificial diet for Coccinella septempunctata
• Rearing and maintenance of host insect Corcyra cephalonica and predator Chrysoperla carnea
• Developing bio-control based IPM for mustard aphid

Projects

Institute Projects

• Epidemiology and management of white rust. PI: Dr.P.K.Rai
• Management of Alternaria Blight in Rapeseed-Mustard. PI: Dr. P. D. Meena
• Management of Sclerotinia rot in Rapeseed-Mustard. PI: Dr. Pankaj Sharma
• Biological control of major pests of Brassicas with special reference to mustard aphid. PI:
• Pest-plant interaction of major pests of Brassicas. PI:

External Projects

• ICAR-NPTC: Brassica functional genomics for Alternaria blight and drought/ heat tolerance

Achievements

• Significant cultural and molecular variability was observed among the geographical isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (25) and Alternaria brassicae (25)
• Seed treatment (5g/kg) with talc based formulation of GR isolate of Trichoderma harzianum reduced Sclerotinia and Alternaria diseases up to 30% in Indian mustard.
• Seed treatment with carbandazim (2g/kg) and foliar spray (0.1%) at 60-70 DAS provided maximum reduction in Sclerotinia rot.
• Allium sativum bulb extract (1%, w/v) found effective against Alternaria blight and Sclerotinia rot
• Genotypes Bio-YSR, EC-399296, EC 399299, NPJ-127, NRCDR-515, JM-1, EC-399313, JMY-11 were found resistant to white rust.
• New fungal pathogen Nigrospora oryzae was reported to cause stem blight disease in Indian mustard
• Mustard aphid reduced seed yield and oil content up to 86.1% and 3.6%, respectively in B. juncea. The corresponding losses were up to 92.1% and 4.6% in B. napus.
• Total phenol, protein, surface wax, glucosinolates, proline and lectins negatively and total sugars were positively correlated with mustard aphid infestation.
• Neem oil (2%) and neem seed kernel extract (5%) reduced mustard aphid infestation by 80%.
• Verticillium lecanii @ 108 CS/ml reduced aphid population by 80% under humid conditions.
• Spray of dimethoate @ 0.1% and release of Coccinella septempunctata @ 5000 beetles/ha 10 days after release reduced mustard aphid population more than 90%.
• Seed treatment with imidacloprid 70 WS (5g/kg) provided good control to painted bug up to 30-35 days after sowing.
• Two new insect pests i.e. Gonocephalum sp. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and Tanymecus indicus Fst. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) were recorded during seedling stage.

Manpower

	Dr. P.K. Rai, Pr. Scientist (Plant Pathology)	Dr. P.D.Meena Pr. Scientist (Plant Pathology)
Dr. Pankaj Sharma, Pr. Scientist(Plant Pathology)	Mr. U. S. Rana, Chef Tech Officer	Mr. Ram Singh, Sr. Technical Assistant