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Background: Black gram (Vigna mungo L.) is the member of Asian Vigna crop group and also known as urdbean grown in spring and Kharif season in the Indian subcontinent. It is the fourth most important short-duration pulse crop grown in India. Black gram crop is attacked by a number of insect pests from sowing to harvest in the field as well as in storage condition. Among these insect-pests pod borers i.e. spotted pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Geyer) and gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) are serious insect-pests of black gram causing seed and pod damage. Therefore, keeping these views in mind, the present study aimed to study the population fluctuation of major pod borers (M. vitrata and H. armigera) in black gram. Methods: The research trials were conducted during two consecutive years i.e. Kharif, 2018 and 2019 at CRC of SVPUAT, Meerut to observe the population dynamics of major pod borers in black gram. A plot size of 200 m2 with black gram variety ‘Pant Urd-31’ was sown manually 5-7 cm deep on 18 August, 2018 for the first year experiment and on 20 August, 2019 for the second year experiment, by following standard agronomical practices and the crop was maintained without insecticide application. Result: The study on the seasonal incidence of pod borers viz., M. vitrata and H. armigera start from 39th to 44th standard week and both the larvae attain their peak in 41st and 42nd standard week during Kharif, 2018 and 2019.

The white grubs infests diverse crops of food and horticultural importance such as groundnut, sugarcane, kharif pulses, vegetables areca nut, ginger, potato, etc. and it inflict losses as high as 100 per cent, depending upon the severity of infestation have been uncommon. In present study, attemts have been made to explore the potentiality of entomopathogens for the management of the white grub Holotrichia consanguinea a serious pest in groundnut crop in Rajasthan during kharif seasons, 2018 and 2019. Results revealed that furrow application of Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae powder formulation @ 5 kg (1×1012 CFU/gm) and H. indica galleria @ 5000 galleria per hectare at the time of sowing were significantly superior in reducing the per cent plant mortality (28.00%, 29.33%, 31.77%, respectively) and increase yield over untreated control (12.82, 11.53, 10.78 q/ ha respectively).

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Background: Pulse crops are known as an important dietary source of proteins for a major part of the vegetarian population across the globe; especially in India. Legume crops help restoration of soil fertility through symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Spatial distribution is an important aspect as it interprets the interaction between individuals of the species and their habitat. The biological reason of aggregation is highly unpredictable and it depends on behavioural pattern of the insect; therefore, spatial distribution accounts for informative description of organisms. Methods: In order to study the spatial distribution of sucking pests of cowpea, a field trial was laid out during Zaid and Kharif separately at the Instructional Farm of Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur in 2019 and 2020. Cowpea variety Pusa Komal was cultivated in 6 plots each of 3 m x 3 m with the row to row and plant to plant spacing of 50 cm and 10 cm, respectively. Different distribution pattern were used to determine spatial distribution pattern of species of insect fauna associated with cowpea during the summer and monsoon season. Result: The spatial distribution for most the insect pest complex was contagious during both the respective seasons. All positive IDM (index of clumping) values confirmed the clumping of the pest during the season. The mean crowding index was more than unity, indicated clumped interaction.