Natural Parasitization of Karanj Defoliator, Glyphodes negatalis, Walker (Lepidoptera:Pyralidae): a Newly Reported Insect Pest of Karanj in South Gujarat  

Sachin Mahadev Chavan , Sushilkumar Saxena
Department of Entomology, ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat)- 396 450, India
Navsari agril. university
Author    Correspondence author
Medicinal Plant Research, 2012, Vol. 2, No. 4   doi: 10.5376/mpr.2012.02.0004
Received: 26 Sep., 2012    Accepted: 08 Oct., 2012    Published: 10 Oct., 2012
© 2012 BioPublisher Publishing Platform
This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Chavan S.M., and Saxena S., 2012, Natural Parasitization of Karanj Defoliator, Glyphodes negatalis, Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): a Newly Reported Insect Pest of Karanj in South Gujarat, Vol.2, No.4 18-20 (doi: 10.5376/mpr.2012.02.0004)

 
Abstract

The studies on incidence of natural enemies of Karanj defoliator, Glyphodes negatalis, Walker was carried out in the laboratory of Department of Entomology, ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat) during 2010-2011. Two hymenopteran parasitoids viz., Xanthopimpla sp. (Ichneumonidae) and Brachymeria sp. (Chalcididae) were found to parasitize the larvae of G. negatalis. The extent of parasitization by Xanthopimpla sp. ranged from 4.00% to 17.50% and by Brachymeria sp. ranged from 3.03% to 13.79%. The total extent of parasitization by parasitoid complex ranged from 7.69% to 29.31%.

Keywords
Glyphodes negatalis Walker; Xanthopimpla sp.; Brachymeria sp.

Pongamia pinnata belongs to the family Fabacese (Papilionacease) is a medium sized evergreen tree with a spreading crown. The seeds are largely exploited for extraction of a non-edible oil commercially known in India as ‘Karanj oil' which is well organized for its medicinal properties. All parts of the plant have been used as crude drug for the treatment of tumors, piles, skin diseases, wounds and ulcers (Tanaka et al., 1992). In the traditional system of medicines, such as Ayurveda and Unani, the Pongamia pinnata plant is used for anti-inflammatory, anti-plasmodial, anti-nonciceptive, anti-hyperglycamic, anti-lipidperoxidative, anti-diarrhoeal, anti-ulcer, anti- hyperammonic and antioxidant activity (Chopade et al., 2009). Other uses incorporation of leaves and the press-cake into soils improves fertility. Dried leaves are used as an insect repellent in stored grains. The press-cake, when applied to the soil, has value as a pesticide, particularly against nematodes (Anon., 1986; Orwa et al., 2009). The P. pinnata seeds also contain about 40% oil, which can be converted to biodiesel by transesterification method (Meher et al., 2006).

Thus, the future success of Pongamia pinnata as a sustainable source of feedstock for the bio-fuel industries is reliant on an extensive knowledge of the genetics, physiology, pharmacology and propagation of this legume. Losses due to insect pests are considered one of the important constraints responsible for low output in case of many agricultural, horticultural crops and also in beneficial shrubs and tree sp. There are about 30 species of insect pests recorded to cause damage to Pongamia raised usually as avenue planting & strip plantations on marginal lands (Orwa et al., 2009). They include gall inducers, leaf miners, defoliators, shoot bores, sap suckers, flower feeders and fruit seed borers. Some of the important pests are Parnara mathias F., Gracillaria spp, Indarbela quadrinotata (Walker), Myllocerus spp., and Acrocercops spp. Chavan et al (2012) reported that the Karanj defoliator, Glyphodes negatalis Walker is a serious insect pest of Karanj in nursery condition in south Gujarat (India) and this was the first report from Gujarat state and perhaps in India on Karanj. The neonate larvae fed on chlorophyll and skeletonized the leaves of Karanj, while the older
larvae folded and webbed together the leaves and fed within (Kumar et al., 2012). Natural enemies (predators and parasitoids) play important role in regulating insect pest population. The present study was undertaken to investigate the natural parasitization of Karanj defoliator, G. negatalis so that the information generated may be used to formulate the ecofriendly management strategies of G. negatalis 

Material and Methods
The investigation on natural parasitization of Karanj defoliator, Glyphodes negatalis, Walker was carried out in the laboratory of Department of Entomology, ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, NAU, Navsari (Gujarat) during October 2010 to February 2011. For this purpose, the larvae and pupae of G. negatalis were collected from the infested seedlings of Karanj raised in nursery and were reared in the laboratory for the emergence of adult parasitoids. Daily fresh leaves were provided for feeding the larvae and observe the emergence of adult parasitoids, if any. The field collected pupae were kept separately in plastic container whose open mouth was closed by muslin cloth supported with tight rubber band to prevent the escape of natural enemies. The emerged adults of parasitoids were preserved in 70% ethyl alcohol in small glass vials (15 mL pacity) and subsequently sent for identification.

Results and discussions
The result revealed that the larvae of Glyphodes negatalis Walker were observed to feed on Karanj seedlings in nursery condition at College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat), and found severe on Karanj seedlings. The data mentioned in Table 1 indicated that the population of G. negatalis were commences from first fortnight of October 2010 then increased and reached peak in the month of January 2011. The larvae and pupae of G. negatalis were parasitized by a parasitoid complex in natural conditions. In the present investigation two hymenopteran larval-pupal parasitoids were found to be emerged. Subsequently, the species were identified as Xanthopimpla sp. (Ichneumonidae) and Brachymeria sp. (Chalcididae) by Dr. J. Poorani, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects (Formerly PDBC), Banglore. None of the adult parasitoid was emerged from larvae alone. Both the species of parasitoids were emerged from pupae. Therefore, only the total numbers of pupae formed during larval rearing in laboratory condition were taken for analysis (Table 1). The data were converted into fortnight interval. The extent of parasitization was calculated on the basis of total number of larvae/pupae collected and parasitized larvae/pupae in each observation (Table 1).



Table 1 Extent of natural parasitization of Karanj defoliator, Glyphodes negatalis Walker during 2010-2011

The result revealed that the extent of parasitization by Xanthopimpla sp. ranged from 4.00% to 17.50% and by Brachymeria sp. ranged from 3.03% to 13.79%. The positive correlation was observed between total numbers of larvae/pupae collected and emergence of parasitoid. The total extent of parasitization by parasitoid complex ranged from 7.69% to 29.31%.
 
Earlier, Mittal et al (2011) studied the incidence of natural enemies on the mulberry pyralid, Glyphodes (=Margaronia) pyloalis Walker infesting mulberry crop and reported that there were five hymenopteran parasitoids including three braconids (Apanteles obliquae Wilkinson, Bracon hebetor Say and Chelonus carbonator Marshall) and two ichneumonids (Pristomerus sulci Mahdihassan and Kolubajiv and  Xanthopimpla sp.) were found to parasitize the larvae. The activity of these natural enemies was observed from July to October in the cropping period spread over May-October. These results were more or less confirmed the present findings.
Acknowledgement
The authors are greatly thankful to Director of Research, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat (India) for providing necessary facilities for conducting the present research work and Dr. J. Poorani, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects (Formerly PDBC), Banglore for identification of the parasitoids.

References
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Chavan S.M., Kabade K.H., Sushil Kumar and Prajapati V., 2012, Glyphodes negatalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): A new insect pest of Karanj, Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre in south Gujarat (India), Insect Environment, 17(4): 176-177


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Mittal V., Illahi I., Dhar A., and Khan M.A., 2011, Natural enemies of mulberry pyralid, Glyphodes pyloalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), in temperate climate of Kashmir, Journal of Biological Control, 25(1): 55-57

Orwa C., Mutua A., Kindt R., Jamnadass R., and Simons A., 2009, Agroforestry Database: A tree reference and selection guide version 4.0. 

Sushil Kumar, Chavan S.M., and Kabade K.H., 2012, Biology of Glyphodes negatalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): A New Insect Pest of Karanj, Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre in south Gujarat (India), Medicinal Plants, 4(1): 12-16 

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