Pest scenario of ber (Ziziphus mauritianaLam.) in arid regions of Rajasthan: a review

Indian jujube known as ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) is an extremely drought hardy and native fruit of India. However, the quality of fruits and productivity is not obtainable up to the standard. One of the reasons for it is infestation of insect pests on the vegetative as well as developing fruits, which ultimately leads to significant yield loss and quality attributes of the fruits. Though as  many  as  130  species  of  insect  pests  have  been  recorded  in  India,  only  few  species  have attained the pest status and cause substantial economic damage to ber. A total of 12 insect-pests infesting on ber have been recorded from hot arid region of Rajasthan. Out of these, three insects viz.,  Ber  fruit  fly  (Carpomyia  vesuviana  Costa),  fruit  borer  (Meridarchis  scyrodes)  and  stone weevil  (Aubeus  himalayanus  Voss)  were  recorded  as  major  pests  with  high  infestation  rate, whereas  two  insects  (Ber  butter  fly,  Tarucus  theophrastus  (Fabricius)  and  thrips,  Scirtothrips dorsalis  (Hood))  were  recorded  as  moderate  pests.  As  many  as  seven  insect  pests  viz.,  grey weevil, Myllocerus dentifer (Fabricius), M. blandus Faust, Amblyrrhinus poricollis Schoenherr; 
leaf  webber,  Synclera  univocolis;  ber  mite,  Larvacarus  transitans,  bark  eating  caterpillars, Indarbela sp and termite, Odontotermes sp were recorded as minor pests. The incidence of fruit fly (C. vesuviana), fruit borer (M. scyrodes) and stone weevil (A. himalayanus) were recorded on ber from October to  February. The fruit fly infests most of the Ziziphus species grown in the 
world and cause severe yield loss up to 80% or even more. The average percent incidence of stone weevil, A. himalayanus was observed between 13.00 to 64.00 in fallen fruits and 12.00 to 59.33 on attached fruits of ber. The seasonal incidence of fruit borer, M. scyrodes attained its peak  in  the  second  fortnight  of  December  (58.33%)  in  ber  crop.  The  leaf  feeder"s  viz.,  ber butterfly, leaf webber, mite, thrips and grey weevils were more active during June to September.