ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL OF PREDATORY SPIDERS IN CONTROLLING THE COTTON JASSID (AMRASCA DEVASTANS) UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS - R. Khuhro; A. Ghafoor; A. Mahmood; M. S. Khan; S. Andleeb; M. Bukhari; I. Maqsood; M. M. Shahjahan; N. A. Baloch (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2012)
A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the predatory efficiency of aranied fauna against the insect pests of cotton. Predatory spider species collected from cotton fields were Lycosa tista, L. kempi, L. machenziei and Pardosa berminica and Thomisus projectus, T. bulani and Thomisus sp and their preys were adult and nymphs of jassid, white flies and jassid. Predator L. tista consumed 12.80 (19.21) adult and 17.0 (21.25%) nymphs jassid out of total consumption of adult jassid (66.60) and nymph jassid (79.7) whereas L. kempi consumed 12.80 (19.21%) white flies and 10.60 (25.80%) thrips. Predatory spider T. projectus showed least intention for consumption of 6.0 (9.0%) adults and 6.40 (8.0%) nymph jassid. White flies and thrips were consumed 3.80 (5.01%) and 3.20 7.61% by the T. bulani and T. projectus. The maximum nymph jassid (79.40) were consumed by all predatory spiders. Overall the highest consumption was observed in L. kempi (56) followed by P. birminica (53) and Thomisus sp (47). The current findings revealed that aranied fauna as an efficient predator of jassid could be used for the suppression of insect pests of cotton.
Keywords: journal article; spiders; predation; insects; pests; cotton; consumption