TY - JOUR AU - Singh, K. I. AU - Singh, C. H. AU - Singh, M. P. AU - Gupta, M. K. PY - 2009/04/17 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Predation Efficiency of Five Coccinellid Beetles on Aphis craccivora Koch Infesting Cowpea JF - Journal of Biological Control JA - JBC VL - 23 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.18311/jbc/2009/3615 UR - https://informaticsjournals.com/index.php/jbc/article/view/3615 SP - 49-52 AB - The predation efficiency of five species of coccinellids, namely, <em>Coelophora biplagiata</em> (Swartz), <em>Coccinella transversalis</em> F., <em>Menochilus sexmaculatus</em> (F.), <em>Cryptolaemus montrouzieri</em> Mulsant, and <em>Chilocorus nigrita</em> (F.), against cowpea aphid, <em>Aphis craccivora</em> Koch, was evaluated in the laboratory. Maximum consumption of<em> A. craccivora</em> (65.20 ± 0.59 to 214.60 ± 2.60) was observed in <em>C. biplagiata</em> released under various predator densities, whereas <em>C. montrouzieri</em> consumed the minimum numbers (19.40 ± 0.36 to 84.60 ± 0.73). <em>C. biplagiata</em> was closely followed by <em>M. sexmaculatus</em> and <em>C. transversalis</em>. It was also observed that <em>C. biplagiata, M. sexmaculata</em> and <em>C. transversalis</em> exhibited higher predation efficiency with a mean aphid consumption of 43.60 ± 0.46 to 485.80 ± 5.18, 41.20 ± 0.33 to 377.00 ± 3.35 and 40.60 ± 0.96 to 370.00 ± 3.74, respectively, under different prey densities of 45 to 720. When <em>C. biplagiata</em> was released, significantly lowest aphid population (23.06) was recorded, followed by<em> M. sexmaculatus</em> (35.26), <em>C. transversalis</em> (43.00) and <em>C. nigrita</em> (49.13) as against unreleased control (191.86). The highest aphid population (54.26) was recorded in the treatment where <em>C. montrouzieri</em> released. ER -