Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) has been the current topic of research for insect taxonomists and applied entomologists in India due to its invasiveness, rapid spread, morphological and biological variations and the need for establishing an effective control strategy. The biology of the mealybug P. solenopsis was studied on cotton under laboratory conditions between August and October of 2009 with mean temperature and relative humidity of 23.3–30.2°C and 40.5–92.5% RH, respectively, in central India. Neonate crawlers that emerged from a field population were collected and constituted the study population. The developmental period from immature crawler to adult stage was greater for males (18.7 ± 0.9 days) compared to females (13.2 ± 1.8 days), probably due to the additional molt to the pupal stage in males. Survival of second instars was lower (45.5%) than first and third instars (71.4%). Females showed dynamic patterns of fecundity with the number of crawlers produced per female ranging between 128 and 812, with a mean of 344 ± 82. The reproductive period lasted 30.2 ± 8.2 days. Parthenogenesis with ovoviviparity (96.5%) was dominant over the oviparous (3.5%) mode of reproduction. Adult females lived 42.4 ± 5.7 days. Males accounted for less than 5% of the population, and lived 1.5 ± 0.1 days. The life history parameters of P. solenopsis adult females are discussed relative to the appearance of symptoms on the cotton crop, and the importance of making management interventions during the effective reproductive period of the insect.

There are various seed priming methods such as hydro priming, osmo priming, solid matrix priming, hormo-priming, chemo-priming, nutri-priming and biopriming being useful for enhancing the seed germination, seedling vigour and to overcome abiotic stress. Moreover to these advantages, of all priming methods only biopriming method gives an extra advantage of biotic stress management and thus gain special attention. Solubilisation or mobilization of soil macro and micronutrients, siderophore production, induction of plant growth promoting activities, induction of useful biochemicals, phytoalexin and defense-related enzymes and induced systemic resistance are the mechanisms involved in seed biopriming. Range of fungal or bacterial bio agents viz., Azotobacter, Rhizobium, Arthrobacter, Agrobacterium, Azospirillum, Enterobacter, Streptomyces, Bacillus, Burkholderia, Klebsiella, PSB, Pseudomonas fluorescence, Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma harzianum and Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorhiza, whether they are biofertilizer or biopesticide, may be useful as biopriming agents. Seed biopriming is useful in almost all the crops over the globe and is an eco-friendly substitute to chemical fungicides.

Bio-priming can also be viewed as a new technique of seed treatment using biological agents to stimulate germination of seed and growth of the plant and further protecting the seed from soil-and seed-borne pathogens. The present investigation was carried out in vitro conditions on seed germination and seedling vigour of few vegetable crops viz.  tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), brinjal (Solanum melongena L.), onion (Allium cepa L.) and chilli (Capsicum annuum L.), during 2015 and 2016. The treatments comprised viz. T1: Non primed seeds (Control), T2: Seed treatment with Carbendazim 2.5g/kg seed, T3: Hydro-priming for 6 hrs, T4: Hydro-priming for 12 hrs, T5: Hydro-priming for 18 hrs, T6: Biopriming with Trichoderma  viride for 6 hrs, T7: Biopriming with T.viride for 12 hrs, T8: Biopriming with T.viride for 18 hrs, T9: Biopriming with Trichoderma harzianum for 6 hrs, T10: Biopriming with T. harzianum for  12 hrs, T11: Biopriming with T. harzianum for 18 hrs, T12: Biopriming with Pseudomonas fluorescens for 6 hrs, T13: Biopriming with P. fluorescens for 12 hrs and T14: Biopriming with P. fluorescens for 18 hrs.  The results revealed that maxiumum germination percentage (92.92, 90.77,83.00 and 86.33), seedling length (32.38 cm, 29.35 cm, 31.75 and 31.60 cm), seedling fresh weight (2.07 g, 4.01 g, 3.05 g and 2.04 g),  seedling dry weight (0.42 g, 0.86 g, 0.62 g and 0.42 g) and seedling vigour index (3008.11, 2664.00, 2635.00 and 2728.00) were recorded in T10 (bio priming with T. harzianum for 12 hrs) in tomato (S. lycopersicum L.), brinjal (S. melongena L.), onion (A. cepa L.) and chilli (C. annuum L.), respectively. Thus, it indicated that priming of seeds of these crops with T. harzianum/P. fluorescens/ T. viride  for 12 hrs was very effective with respect to their vegetative growth along with the quality yield.

In the present study, seven fungicides and their combinations were evaluated against the grey leaf blight disease of mango. Minimum disease intensity (%) and maximum disease control (%) was achieved with the spray of carbendazim+mancozeb (0.2 % @ 2.0 g l-1) and kresoxim methyl (0.1 % @ 1.0 ml l-1) against grey leaf blight disease of mango. Carbendazim 12%+mancozeb 63% was found significantly superior over rest of the treatments with minimum grey leaf blight intensity (8.07 %) followed by kresoxim methyl 43% SC (10.67%). Copper oxychloride 50% WP was found to be the next best treatment in order of effectiveness which was at par with cymoxanil 8%+mancozeb 64 % (12.74 %). Formula for calculating disease intensity (%): PDI =(∑ Ratings of infected leaves observed/No. of leaves observed x Maximum disease score)×100 Observations with regards to symptoms were recorded on the basis of graded scale (0-5) (Patel, 1988

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