Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

Seasonal abundance of turnip aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt.) and it’s associated natural enemies in different canola genotypes

¹Yangzhou University, College of Plant Protection, China
²The University of Agriculture, Dept. of Plant Protection, Pakistan

Abstract

A field study examined the seasonal abundance of Turnip aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and its associated natural enemies in different canola genotypes. Twelve canola genotypes viz. Advance line-25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 were cultivated at the New Developmental Farm, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan. Peak population of 4.95 aphids leaf^-1 was recorded on 14^th March, lowest population of 0.90 aphids leaf^-1 was recorded on 1^st May, while highest population of 7.08 aphids inflorescence^-1 was observed on 22nd March and lowest population of 0.62 aphids inflorescence^-1 was recorded on 1^st May. The predator, Episyrphus balteatus De Geer (Diptera: Syrphidae) was first observed on 10^th February with a mean of 0.30 syrphid flies leaf^-1. At the time when aphid population started to increase the peak population of 0.81 syrphid flies leaf^-1 was observed on the 3rd week of March. Other predators, Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Chrysoperla carnea Steph. (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) and the parasitoid, Diaeretiella rapae M'Intosh (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) appeared in the 3rd week of February. The highest population of C. septempunctata L. and C. carnea Steph. were observed during the 3rd week of March with a mean population of 0.67 ladybird beetles leaf^-1 and 0.44 green lacewing leaf^-1. Similarly the highest percent parasitism of D. rapae 35.82% was observed in the 3rd week of March. Among all the canola genotypes, lowest aphid infestation was observed on Advance line-28 as compared with all other genotypes. Highest infestation of aphids was recorded on Advance line-33, which was found to be the most susceptible genotype. Advance line-28 was also found superior in terms of natural enemies. Lowest number of natural enemies was recorded on Advance line-33. Maximum number of seeds pod^-1 and highest 1000 seed weight was recorded for Advance line-28. Aphid infestation showed a non-significant correlation with plant height and pod length while a highly negative significant association was recorded for seeds pod^-1 and 1000 seeds weight.

Keywords: Canola genotypes, Chrysoperla carnea, Coccinella septempunctata, Diaeretiella rapae, Episyrphus balteatus, Lipaphis erysimi

Contact Address: Amir Zaman Shah , Yangzhou University, College of Plant Protection, 88 South Daxue Road, 225009 Yangzhou, China, e-mail: amirzaman87gmail.com