Incidence of major pests in Bael, Aegle marmelos as influenced by abiotic factors in arid region of Rajasthan

The Bael, Aegle marmeloos is gaining popularity among the farmers of arid and semi arid areas for economic cultivation. However, the quality of fruits and productivity is not obtained up to the standard. It revealed from the study that the damaging effect of swallow tail butterfly Papilio demoleus was recorded on bael from September to February. The damaging intensity of this butterfly was recorded 45 to 50 percent leaves damage. The peak population (egg and larvae) of butterfly was observed in November (12.3 eggs & 6.1 larvae/ 10 branches). The relationship between swallow tail butterfly infestation and temperature was negatively correlated whereas the relative humidity was positively correlated. Beside this, the fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) was found to damage severely to fruits of bael during 2009-10 in all important cultivars growing in the farm. The infested fruits drop-off before to mature. The fruit cracking and rotting also observed in the infested fruits. About 40 to 50 larva has been observed from the single fruit. The active maggot comes out from the dropped fruit through split puncture after the crack for pupation. The infestation (fruit drop) was noticed in the cultivars such as NB 5, NB 7, NB 9, Pant Aparna, Pant Urvashi, Pant Shivani, Pant Sujatha. The more fruit drop was noticed in the late season cultivars