Record of pests infesting snake gourd, Tricosanthes cucumerina L. and their seasonal incidence

Introduction

Snake gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina) also known as serpent gourd is an annual, rapid growing vine of the Cucurbitaceae family, grown for its edible fruits. This subtropical plant is a native of South East Asia and Australia, mostly popular in India and widely cultivated in Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Nigeria and Australia. It is widely cultivated in kitchen garden. The snake gourd is grown throughout the year in some parts of Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Konkan region. It is extensively cultivated during Kharif as well as in Rabi season in Palghar tahasil of Palghar district and Pen and Alibag tahasils of Raigad district (Patil, 1988) [23] . Besides meager adoption of high yielding varieties and improved package of practices, the losses due to insect pests are also responsible for low yields in snake gourd. A total of 17 species of insect-pests belonging to four economically important orders viz., Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and Diptera were recorded feeding and damaging the snake gourd crop (Sharath, 2019) [36] . Out of these, a few pests like semilooper, A. peponis, pumpkin beetle, Aulocophora spp., fruit fly, B. cucurbitae, stink bug, Coridius brunneus, epilachna beetle, Epilachna spp, aphid, Aphis gossypii and pumpkin caterpillar, D. indica etc. usually damage the snake gourd in the Konkan region (Patil, 1988) [23] . Singh (1966) [40] and Shivarkar and Dumbre (1985) [39] stated that more than fifty per cent of fruits of cucurbits were either partially or fully damaged by fruit fly. Nair (1999) [19] also noticed that defoliators and aphids are serious problems in snake gourd. Due to cultivation of snake gourd throughout the year, a number of pests attack this crop in addition to the above mentioned insect pests and cause severe damage every year. For better understanding of the population behaviour, proper timing for adopting International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science https://www.agriculturaljournals.com control strategy, consideration of biotic and abiotic factors is very much important. Seasonal abundance of the pest provides not only the information of the initiation of the pest but also provides the peak activity of the particular pest. Natural enemies also contribute in reducing the pest population to some extent. Weather parameters viz., temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, bright sunshine hours, wind speed, evaporation etc. play a pivoted role in population build-up of insect pests (Ghongade et al., 2021) [9] . Correlation study helps in to provide positive or negative association of pest population with weather parameters. It also shows direct influence of particular parameter on pest population build-up as well as its indirect effect through other parameters.

Material and Methods

A field experiment was conducted at Vegetable Improvement Scheme (VIS), Central Experiment Station, Wakawali Tal. Dapoli Dist. Ratnagiri 415712 during Kharif season of 2024-25, to record the pests infesting snake gourd, study their seasonal incidence and correlation with weather parameters. A separate plot of 110 m 2 (11m x 10m) was kept free from insecticides throughout the crop season for recording the observations on the pests of snake gourd and their seasonal incidence. Twenty-five plants from entire plot and 10 leaves from each plant were selected randomly and tagged to record the observations on the incidence of different pests. The observations were recorded at weekly interval till the harvest of the crop by following standard methodology as per given below.

The observations on sucking pests viz., aphid and white fly were recorded on 10 leaves per plant from randomly selected twenty-five plants at weekly interval. The observations on leaf eating caterpillars viz., snake gourd semilooper and pumpkin caterpillar were recorded on total number of larvae from 10 leaves per plant from randomly selected twenty-five plants at weekly interval. The observations on number of pumpkin beetles were recorded from 10 leaves per plant from randomly selected twenty-five plants at weekly interval. The observations on leaf miner were recorded by counting number of mined leaves from 10 leaves per plant under observation from randomly selected twenty-five plants at weekly interval. The data thus obtained were averaged out and presented. For incidence of fruit fly, the observations on number of healthy and infested fruits were recorded from randomly selected 10 plants from experimental plot at weekly interval. Then the data was analyzed and presented. The larvae of leaf miner, L. sativae were found initially colourless and later become yellowish in colour, causing damage by mining the leaf tissue and make zigzag tunnels or mines on leaves. These mines became enlarged as the larvae grow in size, they got coalesced as a result the leaves get dry up. Adult of pumpkin beetle, A. foveicollis was red coloured dorsally and black ventrally whereas, the adult of A. intermedia was black dorsally. The adult beetles were found damaging snake gourd plant above ground attacking on the flowers, leaves and fruits. They were found feeding voraciously on leaf lamina between the veins making irregular holes preferring younger seedlings and tender leaves.

The adult of melon fruit fly, B. cucurbitae was observed reddish brown with lemon yellow markings on the thorax and have fuscous areas on the outer margins of their wings. The maggots were legless thicker at one end and tapering to a point at the other. When the infested fruit was cut, the maggots were found feeding inside on the pulp of fruit. As a result of maggot infestation, the fruits started rotting, got distorted and malformed in shape and fall down prematurely. Two species of aphid viz., A. gossypii and M. persicae were recorded infesting the snake gourd crop. The nymphs of A. gossypii were yellowish to greenish brown in colour found on the undersurface of leaves whereas, adults were greenish brown, soft bodied insects. The nymphs of M. persicae were light green in colour, but soon turned to yellowish. The adults have black head and thorax and a yellowish green abdomen with a large dark dorsal patch. Nymphs and adults of both the species were observed feeding on leaves and tender shoots by sucking the cell sap. Excessive feeding causes leaf curling, crinkling and stunted growth. They were seen excreting large amount of sticky substance called honeydew, which attracted ants and promoted the growth of sooty mould fungus interfering in the photosynthesis activity of the plant. The nymphs of white fly, Bemisia tabaci were noticed greenish in colour and flat in body structure whereas, the adults were having yellow bodies and white wings. Nymphs and adults were found infesting undersurface of leaves and sucking the cell sap. The infestation lead to development of chlorotic spots on the leaves, which coalesce into yellowing, stunted growth, premature defoliation and the development of sooty mould fungus which inhibited photosynthesis. They also act as a vector of yellow vein mosaic virus in snake gourd.

The adults of brown stink bug, C. brunneus were observed brown in colour whereas, the adults of leaf footed bug, L. phyllopus were large and having brown or black colour with a distinctive leaf-like expansion on their hind legs. Both the species were recorded as minor pests of snake gourd and were found feeding by sucking the cell sap from different parts of the snake gourd plant (stem, leaves and fruits).

Infestations lead to reduced plant vigour, stunted growth and affecting the overall health of the snake gourd plant.

Seasonal incidence of major pests infesting snake gourd, T. cucumerina 2.1 Sucking pests

The aphid, A. gossypii, M. persicae population started building up from the 12 th WAS corresponding to 35 th SMW with an initial population of 5.84 nymphs and adults per plant. The aphids multiplied rapidly and reached a maximum population density of 21.92 nymphs and adults per plant in the 17 th WAS (40 th SMW) (Table 2). This exponential growth during mid-season can be attributed to favourable humidity and plant succulence. Being sap feeders, their numbers declined as the plants aged and leaves became less tender and suitable for feeding. Whiteflies, B. tabaci were recorded slightly earlier than aphids, beginning during the 11 th WAS corresponding to 34 th SMW with a marginal count of 0.16 nymphs and adults per per plant (Table 2). The pest population showed a consistent upward trend, culminating in a peak of 11.30 individuals (nymphs and adults) per plant during the 17 th WAS (40 th SMW). The increase in whitefly population coincided with warm and moderately humid conditions. As whiteflies are phloem feeders and also vector of viruses, their gradual decline after the 17 th WAS may be due to reduced plant sap flow, senescence or potential antagonism with other insect populations.

Foliage feeders

The snake gourd semilooper, A. peponis appeared in the crop ecosystem during the 13 th week after sowing (WAS) which corresponded with the 36 th standard meteorological week (SMW). The initial population recorded was 0. 2). By the 18 th WAS (41 st SMW), the infestation reached its maximum intensity with 5.64 larvae per plant, the highest recorded during the entire observation period. This suggests that the caterpillar prefers the mid-to-late vegetative and early reproductive stages for feeding and development. The trend thereafter showed a noticeable decline in population, aligning with the crop's progression to maturity and possible exhaustion of tender foliage. The leaf miner, L. sativae a minor pest during early stages, made its first appearance in the 12 th WAS (35 th SMW) with a low infestation of 0.20 infested leaves per plant. This was followed by a steady increase in the number of infested leaves over time. The infestation reached its highest point in the 21 st WAS (44 th SMW) with 2.12 infested leaves per plant (Table 2), suggesting that the pest became more prominent during the late fruiting and senescence stages of the crop. The presence of older leaves and reduced plant vigour during this phase may have facilitated leaf miner development and survival. Thereafter the infestation declined gradually towards maturity of the crop. The pumpkin beetles, A. foveicollis, A. intermedia were among the earliest pest recorded infesting the snake gourd crop. Their infestation began as early as the 8 th WAS (31 st SMW) with an average of 3.56 adult beetles per plant. The beetle population continued to rise, peaking in the 11 th WAS (34 th SMW) with 6.48 adults per plant, the highest incidence recorded for the pest during the cropping period (Table 2). These beetles are known to prefer young plants and seedlings for feeding, which explains their early and intense activity. After the 11 th WAS, the beetle population exhibited a consistent decline, likely due to the hardening of plant tissues, lower nutritional quality and increasing resistance of mature vines.

Fruit feeders

The melon fruit fly, B. cucurbitae infestation was not observed during the initial vegetative phase but became evident with the onset of fruiting. The pest first appeared during the 14 th WAS (37 th SMW) with 27.03 per cent infested fruits per plant. The infestation increased rapidly and reached its peak level of 41.66 per cent infested fruits per plant during the 16 th WAS (39 th SMW), indicating its preference for immature and soft-skinned fruits (Table 2). The sharp rise in fruit infestation during this period suggests favourable environmental conditions for oviposition and maggot development. The infestation began declining post peak, with 25.00 per cent and 22.86 per cent infestation observed in 19 th and 20 th WAS (42 nd and 43 rd SMW) respectively, continuing to reduce until fruit maturity. The present results on record of pests infesting snake gourd, T. cucumerina and their seasonal incidence are in close agreement with Narayanan and Batra (1960) [20] who reported that B. cucurbitae become active in March, with the peak during July-August causing heavy damage to cucurbits. Singh (1966) [40] estimated the losses caused by fruit flies infesting cucurbits and observed that more than 50 per cent fruits of cucurbits were either partially or fully damaged and made unfit for human consumption. Lal and Lal (1974) [13] reported that the damage to the cucurbit crops was severe due to the attack of Dacus cucurbitae and Raphidopalpa foveicollis, while Pseudoplusia peponis (Fabr.), A. janus and Aphis gossypii (Glov.) were found to cause moderate damage. Narayanan and Subramanium (1976) recorded that A. peponis (Fabr.) infest snake gourd at Coimbatore. Butani and Verma (1977) [7] found that the melon fruit fly, D. cucurbitae was the most destructive and more common species as compared with D. diversus and D. zonatus. Besides this, red pumpkin beetle, R. foevicollis was also found severe. Leaf-footed plant bug, Leptoglossus australis (F.) was recorded as a pest of snake gourd in Kerala (Visalakshi et al., 1980) [46] . Premchand and Prasad (1981) [27] concluded that the semilooper, Plusia peponis F. was considered as a pest of minor significance assumed a status of major pest infesting snakegourd in Bihar. Ram and Pathak (1984) [30] observed the serious infestation of fruit fly, D. cucurbitae during the month of July to September on cucurbitaceous crops. However, mild to moderate damage of aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), stink bug, A. janus (F.) and pumpkin caterpillar, Palpita (Margaronia) unionalis (Hb.) and P. annulata (F.) were also noticed during July to August. Further, Patil (1988) [23] recorded twelve pests on snake gourd in Konkan region. [11] concluded that the B. cucurbitae activity on cucurbitaceous crops started in March, reached to its maximum in August and progressively declined thereafter, becoming negligible during winter. Peter and David (1991) [25] revealed that April-September was the peak period of incidence of D. indica, while in November-February its incidence was the lowest. Roy and Pande (1991) [33] observed that the red pumpkin beetle remained active throughout the year and its' maximum (104 adults/30 leaves) and minimum (34 adults/30 leaves) populations were recorded during months of December and August, respectively. Borah (1997) [5] revealed that the population of red pumpkin beetle on cucumber was significantly higher in June and July sown crop as compared to that of April-May sown crop. Borah (1999) [6] recorded highest number of beetles in rainy season crop (June) on all the three varieties with 3.6 to 4.2 beetles/plant and 39.2 to 46.6 per cent plant damage. Sivakumar (2001) [41] reported that the major pests of snake gourd found in farmers' field were B. cucurbitae, A. peponis, D. indica, Aulacophora spp., A. gossypii and L. trifolii. Johri and Johri (2003) [12] observed greater incidence of red pumpkin beetle, at Kanpur on cucurbitaceous crops during March to September, ranging from 27.70 to 47.49 per cent. Rathod (2006) [31] observed that the higher incidence of red pumpkin beetle, A. foveicollis on cucurbitaceous vegetables (bottle gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, ridge gourd and smooth gourd) was noticed during the kharif season. Saljoqi and Khan (2007) [34] noticed the relative abundance of pumpkin beetle on different cucurbitaceous vegetables from first week of May up to second week of August. Neena Lenin (2011) [22] revealed the incidence of pumpkin caterpillar, D. indica in bitter gourd, snake gourd and cucumber and the extent of infestation was high in these cucurbitaceous crops. Lekshmi et al. (2014) [15] observed higher population of whiteflies in bitter gourd when crop was young and declined later. Halder et al. (2017) [10] reported that the population of D. indica commenced from 31 st SMW and maximum population was recorded during 38 th SMW and 39 th SMW during September. Pramanik et al. (2021) [26] reported that during the snake gourd fruiting season, the rate of fruit fly infestation varied from 6.93 to 44.09 per cent. Sharath et al. (2021) [37] revealed the occurrence of 17 species of insect pests belonging to four economically important orders such as Lepidoptera (three species), Coleoptera (five species), (two species) and Hemiptera (seven species) which are of both major and minor importance on snake gourd, T. cucumerina. Shelke and Kunkalikar (2021) [38] reported the natural incidence of Diaphania indica (Saunders) on watermelon in the state of Goa. Manikandan et al. (2022) [17] from Tamil Nadu reported that the population of A. foveicollis was the highest in pumkin (12.83 adults/plant) and least in snake gourd (0.61 adult/plant) in field conditions. Riyaz and Sivasankaran (2022) [32] documented the first record of A. peponis from North-Western

The larvae were found feeding on cucurbitaceous species, including Citrullus lanatus, Cucumis sativus, Cucurbita moschita, C. pepo, Cyclanthera pedata, Sechium edule and Tricosanthes dioica. Sharada Devi and Venkatesha (2022) [35] found that the abundance of D. indica was maximum between June-July as compared to early summer and winter. In contrast, Rahman et al. (2023) [28] reported that the larval abundance and leaf infestations by D. indica were higher in the summer season than in the winter season. Snake gourd was the most preferred, ridge gourd was moderately preferred and bitter gourd was the least preferred host by D. indica. [15] observed that the maximum, minimum and average temperatures had significant negative correlation on the population build-up of whitefly and aphid, whereas, the maximum, minimum and average temperature had positive correlation with fruit fly, B. cucurbitae population. Bhowmik and Saha (2017) [4] reported that maximum temperature (r= 0.542*) showed a significant positive correlation, while minimum temperature (r= -0.725*) significantly impacted the red pumpkin beetle, A. foveicollis. Minimum RH (r= -0.482*) had a negative effect on the beetle, while maximum RH (r= 0.612) showed a positive correlation with the incidence of the beetle. Sharath et al. (2021) [37] observed that major defoliater pest viz., A. peponis population showed significant positive correlation with morning relative humidity (RH) (r=0.69*), while, population of L. trifolii was significantly and negatively correlated with morning relative humidity (r = -0.66*), population of D. indica was significantly positively correlated with afternoon RH (r=0.60*), pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora spp. population showed significant positive correlation with total rainfall (r=0.69*), whereas, mirid bug, N. tenuis population exhibited significant negative correlation with sunshine hours (r=0.65*). Sharada Devi and Venkatesha (2022) [35] found that the pest population D. indica and relative humidity was positively correlated (r= 0.585 and 0.786; r= 0.647 and 0.635) and temperature was negatively correlated (r= -0.609; -0.561 and -0.076), respectively, during two years of study. Further, Rahman et al. (2023) [28] reported that the larval abundance of D. indica on snake gourd crop was affected by the variation of temperature and relative humidity. The temperature was found to be influential in increasing larval abundance. On the other hand, relative humidity played the opposite role of temperature and negatively influenced larval abundance. Solanki et al. (2023) [42] observed that maximum and minimum temperature showed significant and positive correlation with B. cucurbitae infestation on cucumber, whereas, the morning and evening relative humidity had non-significant and positive correlation.

Conclusion

The present study revealed that snake gourd, Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina, during Kharif 2024-25 was infested by a complex of nine insect pests belonging to Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and Diptera. Among them, aphids, whitefly, snake gourd semilooper, pumpkin caterpillar, pumpkin beetles, leaf miner and melon fruit fly were the major pests causing significant damage to foliage and fruits, while brown stink bug and leaf footed bug occurred as minor pests. The seasonal incidence studies indicated that pest appearance and peak activity were closely linked with crop phenology and prevailing weather conditions.

Correlation analysis established that temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and bright International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science https://www.agriculturaljournals.com sunshine hours exerted varying degrees of positive or negative influence on different pest populations. Notably, leaf miner incidence was highly and positively associated with maximum temperature and bright sunshine hours, while pumpkin beetle population showed significant positive correlation with minimum temperature, afternoon relative humidity and wind speed. These findings emphasize that understanding pest dynamics in relation to abiotic factors is crucial for predicting pest outbreaks and formulating timely, eco-friendly management strategies to reduce yield losses in snake gourd cultivation.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementAuthors are thankful to the Head, Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Dr. B. S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli-415712, Dist. Ratnagiri, Maharashtra (India), to provide necessary facilities and valuable suggestions during the course of present research work.

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