Abstract

 Mulberry is a perennial, heterogenous, dioecious, cross pollinated fast growing tree plant. The total area under mulberry cultivation is over 3,13,000 hectares covering 19 states are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir. Powdery mildew is one of major disease of mulberry, is caused by Phyllactinia corylea (Pers) Karsts, the fungus belongs to the class Ascomycetes, order Erysiphales, and family Erisiphaceae. The fungus causes 8 - 10% loss in the annual yield of mulberry leaves, besides reducing the leaf quality Generally when disease progress, we use chemicals or fungicide for controlling the disease. The indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides has an adverse impact on the environment and disturbed ecological balance. Majority of the chemicals pesticides are harmful to man and animals, some of which are not easily degradable and tend to enter food chains, thereby spreading the toxic effects. The fungivorous insects Illeis indica is a biocontrol agent of Phyllactinia corylea. Keeping the view of the importance of I. indica as potent biocontrol agent against powdery mildew, the present study has been undertaken with the following objectives-to completely observe the morphology and biology of mycophagous insect I. indica, feeds on powdery mildew and to analyse the consumption rate of I. indica on fungal spores.

Keywords: Powdery Mildew; Biological Control Agent; Morphology and Biology of I. indica

References

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Citation

Citation: Swatilekha Garai and Kunal Sarkar. “Life Cycle and Feeding Potential of Illeis indica, a Mycovorous Ladybird Beetle on Powdery Mildew of Mulberry". Acta Scientific Biotechnology 1.5 (2020): 13-19.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Swatilekha Garai and Kunal Sarkar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.