Population Dynamics of Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris brassicae) and Cabbage Aphids (Brevicoryne brassicae) on Five Cultivars of Cauliflower at Peshawar

The studies on population dynamics of Cabbage butterfly and Cabbage aphids on different Cultivars of cauliflower namely Snowball, Snowdrift, Tropical, Pioneer and Meigettsal were carried out at the Research Farm of Entomology Section, Agricultural Research Institute Tarnab Peshawar. Cabbage butterfly (Pieris brassicae) and aphids (Bravicoryne brassicae) were recorded as the major insect pests of Cauliflower crop at ARI, Tarnab, Peshawar. None of the 5 Cultivars was found completely resistant to the infestation of Cabbage butterfly and aphids. The highest average of 86.67 larvae/plant was recorded in the first week of November and the lowest average of 0.67 larvae/plant was recorded in the first week of December. The lowest and the highest average mean population of larvae were observed on Cultivars Meigettsal and snow ball, respectively. During study population density of aphids on cauliflower Cultivars ranged from 0.00 to 31.76 aphids/cm2 leaf area. The lowest and highest average mean population of aphids recorded on Cultivars Snow Drift and Meigettsal, respectively. Cultivar snow drift was found the least preferred to aphids throughout the season. During study cultivar Meigettsal proved to be best against Cabbage butterfly, but showed poor performance against aphids. Cultivar snowdrift showed good performance against aphids and cabbage butterfly