HOST PREFERENCE OF RED PUMPKIN BEETLE, Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas IN DIFFERENT CUCURBITS

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the experimental farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207 during the period from May to August, 2014 to study the host preference of red pumpkin beetle (Aulacophora foveicollis Lucas ) in different cucurbits. The research consists of three cucurbitaceous plants viz. sweet gourd, bottle gourd and bitter gourd. The seeds of these varieties were collected from the BADC, Jessore. The experiment was laid out in single factor Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data were recorded on damage of infested cotyledon, number of infested plants pit-1, number of infested leaves plant-1, number of total infested leaves plot-1, damage of infested flowers and percent damage of infested fruits. Sweet gourd cotyledon showed the maximum (47.67%) damage than that of other cucurbits at 20 DAS, all plants of sweet gourd pit-1 were infested by red pumpkin beetle. The highest leaf infestation was observed in sweet gourd at 50 DAS. The highest flower damage (31%) plot-1 was also observed in sweet gourd at 35 (DAS), where as the highest (39.89%) damage percentage of infested fruits plot-1 was also observed in sweet gourd at 50 DAS. Sweet gourd was found in highly preferred condition by RPB and bitter gourd was found in least preferred condition by red pumpkin beetle in this study.