Review on Mustard aphid

As early as 1909, Lefroy reported L. erysimi infesting mustard crop in different states of India and found that the pest first appears during November –December and makes colonies and damage the crop by draining the sap from the plant stem. There is development of sooty moulds on honeydew secreted by this insect, which finally affect the yield of the crop adversely.

Narayanan (1958) observed that this aphid generally appears in November and causes severe damage to the various cruciferous crops up to April. Their number goes on decreasing as the temperature rises and the summer approaches, with the development of a generation of winged adults. The winged aphids are often observed flying about in February and March.

Singh and Sandhu (1958) reported that the mustard aphid makes its first appearance in November and remains active up to April in Punjab. Thereafter the population decreased considerably with production of a generation of winged adults and their colonies develop on the plants growing in cool and moist places. The multiplication of pest is favoured by moist and cloudy weather.

Atwal et al. (1971) noticed that the fluctuation in population growth was brought about mainly by high temperature and maturing food. The aphid population decreased immediately after every rainfall but increased within a week during spring.

Srivastava and Srivastava (1972) observed maximum incidence of the mustard aphid when temperature ranged from 17 to 18oC and relative humidity 61 to 83 per cent.

Roy (1975) studied the population dynamics of mustard aphid and observed that the aphid population was independent of the effects of temperature and humidity. Rain had, however, profound effect on its population and was one of the most consistent factors in population reduction of L. erysimi.

Prasad and Phadke (1980) observed that the meteorological parameters like temperature and saturation deficiency except rainfall, in general remain conducive for aphid population build up. About 407.3 day degrees were completed before peak aphid population was observed.

Bakhetia and Sidhu (1983) reported that the fecundity, life-span and reproduction of the aphid were adversely affected by rainfall, temperature above 30oC and sub-zero winter temperature. L. erysimi developed and reproduced most rapidly at temperature between 20 to 30oC.

Mathur and Singh (1986 a) noticed that the abundance of L. erysimi had a definite pattern of distribution on the plant as its number was much higher on upper and lower leaves than the middle ones. Its population was observed in the month of January and it was independent on the effect of temperature and the rainfall had shown detrimental effect.

Mathur and Singh (1986 b) reported that the maximum temperature above 15oC with relative humidity below 75 per cent, increase in wind velocity more than 3 km per hour and rate of evaporation 5 mm per day, had their combined effect in a sudden fall of aphid population as prevailed during third week of March.

Singh and Singh (1986) reported that the average temperature, maximum of 25.31oC and minimum of 5.15oC with R.H. 88 per cent morning, 28 per cent evening proved most conducive for the development of mustard aphid irrespective of varieties. The average temperature (maximum) beyond 30oC, action of lady bird beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) and maturity of the crops proved detrimental for the development of mustard aphid.

Ram and Gupta (1987) reported that 21.4 to 22.8oC (maximum), 5.9 to 7.6oC (minimum) temperature and 80.2 to 83.8 per cent (F/N) and 31.2 to 40.9 per cent (A/N) relative humidity were congenial for the development of aphid population. Mild winter shower (around 2.0 mm) and cloudy weather conditions caused in boosting up of aphid population, whereas, heavy winter shower (around 10.0 mm) dislodged the aphid population and followed sudden decline in temperature curtailed the further build up of population.

Jaglan et al. (1988) observed the maximum population of L. erysimi infesting mustard cv. Prakash from the end of February to end of March. Temperature and humidity did not influenced aphid population but rainfall caused a significant and sudden population reduction.

Sinha et al. (1989) observed the population build up in January – February and reached a peak around the middle of February. The ambient maximum (21.7 – 23.5oC) and minimum (7.2 – 9.4oC) temperature in January – February appeared to be highly conducive to the population build up. Minimum humidity (55.7 – 69.4%) in January – February favoured population build up, while high humidity had little effect. Activity of the pest ceased at 50.9 per cent humidity and below. Frequent rains during the phase of population increase adversely affected the aphid population.

Sinha et al. (1990) reported that aphid appeared in the third week of December, increased in January/February and reached at peak number in February. The environmental temperature was important in aphid multiplication. Frequent rain kept the population density low.

Bishnoi et al. (1992) reported that after clearance of western disturbance and a sharp rise in air temperature by 6 to 10oC, the population build up in aphids may further intensity on Indian mustard, B. juncea. The temperature of 10 to 13.5oC and relative humidity of 72-85 per cent proved optimum.

Rana et al. (1993) noticed that the aphid, L. erysimi made its appearance towards the end of December or 1st week of January on rapeseed and mustard. An average temperature of 14.12oC coupled with 85 per cent R.H. proved most conducive for the development of this pest. Temperature (minimum), R.H. (evening) and rainfall exhibited deleterious impact on the population of mustard aphid as they had significantly negative correlation with its population.

Singh and Rai (1994) studied the influence of relative humidity and temperature of 1 – 6 days prior to the date of observation on development of L. erysimi and found that the maximum R.H. three days prior to observation was the most important factor in increasing the aphid population.

Rohilla et al. (1996) observed that L. erysimi appeared on B. napus in the 3rd week of January and in the 1st week of January on all other cultivars (B. campestris – brown sarson and yellow sarson, B. juncea and B. nigra). Infestation reached its peak on B. napus in the last week of February, and in the 2nd week on the other cultivars. Pest incidence increased with an average temperature of 13.7oC and R.H. of 65 per cent. It decreased with temperature above 35oC, < 60 per cent R.H., > 10 mm/day of rain and host crop maturity.

Samdur et al. (1997) observed that mean aphid infestation index was significantly and negatively correlated with maximum temperature, evaporation, sunshine and wind velocity, and significantly and positively correlated with maximum R.H. for B. juncea sown in the first and third weeks of November, and with minimum R.H. for B. juncea sown in the first week only. The conditions of an average – maximum temperature around 23oC, minimum temperature around 10oC, maximum R.H. from 85-88 per cent, minimum R.H. from 30-35 per cent, sunshine for 4 – 7 h/day, evaporation from 2 – 3 mm/day and wind velocity from 3.0 – 4.5 km/h/day were optimum for aphid population increase in the field.

Singh and Malik (1998) reported that the population build up of L. erysimi on Indian mustard (B. juncea cv. Varuna) was initiated in the beginning of January and reached its peak in the middle of February and completely eliminated from the field in the beginning of March. The increase in temperature was significantly conducive for aphid multiplication but R.H. had shown slightly negative response on its intensity without any remarkable response of mild rainfall, while wind velocity had negative effect on this pest. The extent of losses was as high as 59.3 per cent in yield.

Jitendra et al. (1999) observed that aphid appeared on all the test varieties (Varuna, Rohini and Vardan) in 3rd standard week (January), when temperature was below 20oC with more than 90 per cent R.H. and reached at its peak in 6th/ 7th standard weeks (February) during both the years (1994 & 1995) when maximum temperature was ranging between 22-23.25oC at > 84 per cent R.H. An increase in maximum temperature above 25oC along with R.H. < 60 per cent was found responsible for elimination of aphid during 8th/9th standard weeks in the month of March. The aphid multiplication was found to be influenced by morning R.H. up to the extent of 51.29 – 84.33 per cent on Rohini and 64.45 – 85.98 per cent on Vardan independently, whereas maximum temperature was found responsible for determining 6.20 – 19.78 per cent of population during first year which was not much identical during second year. The role of wind velocity was also very unique in determining aphid elimination from the infested crop.

Srivastava et al. (1999) reported that the average maximum temperature had a direct relationship with the aphid population on Brassica cv. Varuna.

Jitendra et al. (2000) noticed that the aphid multiplication was positively governed by temperature, whereas, R.H. and wind velocity had negative effect on mustard, Brassica juncea Czern. & Coss cv. Varuna. Temperature (max. 25.14 & min. 11.42oC) and R.H. (morning 84.14 & evening 57.57%) along with wind velocity below 3.0 km/hr were very conducive for this pest.

Panda et al. (2000) noticed that the aphid species infested the crop from 52nd to 14th standard week (SW) with its peak (302.10 aphid/plant) during 7th SW at 70 days old crop. The minimum temperature between 7.1 to 15.1oC, maximum temperature between 24.9 – 29oC and mean R.H. between 61 – 65.5 per cent were found to be congenial for the proper development of aphid population.

Lakhanpal and Raj (2002) observed the three aphid species populations by using Moerick yellow pan water trap, among which L. erysimi was recorded maximum percentage of alate aphid catches i.e. 66.15 and 83.33 per cent during the 1993 and 1994 in the month of February, respectively. Correlation coefficient showed significant positive correlation (0.821) with maximum temperature and significant negative correlation (0.805) with minimum temperature.

Gupta et al. (2002) noticed that population of mustard aphid during second year of study was higher than first year due to variation in meteorological factors. The temperature ranged between 13.28 – 27.17oC in year 1999 while it was 6.14 – 22.08oC during the observation period of second year. Humidity average of 72.78 per cent in the second year invited more aphids than the first year in which maximum number of aphid was recorded at the R.H. of 67.35 per cent. Scanty rainfall in the month of February did not affect the aphid population however; rainfall in March resulted in sharp decline of aphid population.