Monitoring Insect Pest Complex on Black Gram

The pest spectra, comprising of thirteen species, were observed to attack black gram at different stages of crop growth. The stem fly Ophiomyia phaseoli (Tryon), whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), black aphid Aphis craccivora (Koch), pod bug Riptortus pedestris (F), surface grasshopper, Chrotogonus trachypterous (Blanchard), semilooper, Plusia orichalcea (F), tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (F), blue butterfly Lampides boeticus (L) and blister beetle Mylabris pustulata (Thunberg) have assumed the status of minor pests whereas, gram pod borer Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner), spotted pod borer Maruca vitrata (Geyer), Bihar hairy caterpillar Spilosoma obliqua (Walker) and leafhopper Empoasca kerri (Pruthi) were recorded as major pests.