Assemblage of Insects on Medicinal Plants: An Insight from ICIMOD Herbal Garden in Godavari of Lalitpur, Nepal

Abstract

Present study was conducted within the herbal garden of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Godawari of Kathmandu valley to explore the insect communities in medicinal plants. Five medicinal plants, viz. Rauvolfia serpentina (= Sarpagandha), Urtica dioca (= Sissnu), Zanthoxylum armatum (= Timur), Valeriana jatamansii (= Sungandhawal) and Mentha spicata (= Pudina) were selected for the study. Insects were randomly sampled during four seasons from September 2017 to June 2018 using different collecting techniques, like hand picking, pit-fall traps, net-sweeping and stem beating. A total of 869 insects individuals belonging to 42 different genera were collected and identified. It was found that the abundance of insects was high during spring season (299 insects comprising 35 % of collected species), followed by summer (255 insects comprising 29 % of collected species) and winter (219 insects comprising 25 % of collected species) seasons, and low during autumn season (96 insects comprising 11 % of collected species). It was further found that the abundance of insect species was temperature-dependent, but was independent of relative humidity. The maximum indicator species were present on M. spicata. Taxonomic distinctness (delta+) of insects was high on V. jatamansii, but low on U. dioca.

Dynamic Impacts of Weather Alteration and Urbanization on Entomofauna Diversity in Urban Ecosystem: A Study in the Rohtak District at Tilyar Lake and Maharshi Dayanand University

“…Specimens from traps were rst separated from debris. Each specimen was identi ed through suitable identi cation keys, morphological characters, citizen identi cation, and digital application (Perry et al, 2021;Bhusal et al, 2019). The current study used the automated insect identi cation technology of iOS (the iPhone Operating System).…”

Understanding Citrus Greening Disease and Its Possible Management Strategies in Nepal

“…The use of foliar and systemic insecticides such as imidacloprid, fenpropathrin, chlorpyrifos and dimethoate are considered an effective approach to reduce the citrus psyllid numbers. The approach of using the aqueous solution of either 0.05% dimethoate or 0.02% chlorpyrifos or imidacloprid at bud burst stage for the control of citrus psyllid is also followed in India and China (Department of Agriculture, 2011) and are also readily available in the Nepalese markets (Bhusal et al, 2019;Diwakar et al, 2008). It is found that systemic soil applied imidacloprid properties has less impact on natural enemies (Boina et al, 2009) and also provides a longer period of protection than many foliar insecticides (Grafton-Cardwell et al, 2013) The systemic soil applied imidacloprid were also found to decrease their potential of acquiring and transmitting the HLB pathogen (Boina et al, 2009).…”

“…In some studies, essential oil from Artemisia absinthium is also found toxic to the psyllids but its toxicity was reported to be weaker than synthetic insecticides (Rizvi et al, 2018). However, the availability of the essential oils in the Nepalese market might render its use in HLB management (Bhusal et al, 2019).…”