Vol. 11, Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
KM Patel, Dr. Abhishek Shukla, Dr. KB Patel and Dr. CU Shinde

Abstract:
Sapota, Manilkara achras (Mill.) Fosberg is an important tropical fruit crop of Navsari district of South Gujarat. The damage caused by insect pests and mite is considered as a major constraint which affect the economic yield and quality of fruit crops. The economic value of sapota fruits have been affected by Tuckerella kumaonensis Gupta especially on the basis of quality.The present investigation was carried out to overcome the problem of fruit mite in a comprehensive manner. The results of the present study revealed that the mite activity was started from first fortnight of January with 3.39 mites per 2 cm² area of fruit surface. Further, the population of mite increased gradually and reached to its first peak level (9.24 mites/2 cm² area of fruit surface) in the second fortnight of April and second peak level (6.69 mites/2 cm² area of fruit surface) during first fortnight of October. The correlation co-efficient study of the sapota fruit mite, T. kumaonensis with abiotic and biotic factors revealed that maximum temperature, bright sunshine hours and predatory mite had significantly positive correlation with sapota fruit mite population, whereas, it was significantly negative correlation with evening relative humidity, rainfall and rainy days. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) was found to be significant as total contributions of the abiotic factors on population buildup of sapota fruit mite to the tune of 76.40 per cent on the basis of regression equations developed for build-up of sapota fruit mite, T. kumaonensis population.