Biodiversity and Seasonal Occurrence of insect fauna associated with Brassica Vegetables in Menoufia and Giza Governorates in Egypt
A.R. Elbadawy*, H.M. Hamada and R.A.K. Salama
Department of Economic Entomology and Pesticides, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. *Email of corresponding author: ahmed.elbadawy@agr.cu.edu.eg
Received: 8/3/2023; Accepted: 25/5/2023
https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-001223
Abstract
The present study was conducted to explore the diversity of the insect fauna associated with five brassica vegetables at two locations (Menoufia and Giza) in Egypt. Insects were collected from the two sites, from November 2020 until January 2021. In total, 13 insect species belonging to 12 families and 6 orders were recorded from the two sites: 10 species of insect pests, 2 species of predators and one parasitoid species. Seasonal occurrence of three caterpillars (small white cabbage butterfly, Artogeia rapae L., diamond-back moth, Plutella xylostella L. and semiloopers, Autographa gamma L./Trichoplusia ni H. taking into consideration three weather factors (maximum and minimum temperatures, and relative humidity) were also recorded. The results obtained showed that the small white cabbage butterfly, Artogeia rapae L. and diamond-back moth Plutella xylostella L. preferred cauliflower and cabbage as host plants, whereas semiloopers did not show any preference between cabbage, cauliflower and radish, and they were not recorded on turnip and rocket.
Keywords
Population density, Brassicaceae, caterpillars, natural enemies, agroecosystem.