Abstract

Field experiments were conducted in the Department of Oilseeds, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during Kharif, 2007 to screen the promising germplasm entries of sunflower for confirmation of reaction to key pests viz. leafhoppers, thrips, whiteflies, defoliators and head borer. Results revealed that all the five germplasm entries viz., GMU 407, GMU 415, GMU 424, GMU 473 and GMU 493 were promising to the key pests of sunflower. GMU 473 recorded the maximum of 5.0 thrips and 3.0 S. litura larvae per plant with the defoliation of 25 per cent as against 7 and 0 per cent defoliation in the checks, Morden and TCSH 1, respectively. GMU 424 recorded the maximum of 0.4 leafhoppers per plant as against 28 and 19 hoppers per plant in Morden and TCSH 1, respectively. Screening under glasshouse condition revealed that GMU 473 recorded the maximum grade of 0.5 for hopper burn injury as against 3.5 and 2.2 in the checks Morden and TCSH 1 respectively. GMU 415 and GMU 493 recorded the lowest grade of 0.1.

Keywords: Sunflower, screening, leafhoppers, thrips, defoliators and head borer.