Comparative Studies of Lepidopteran Pest Incidence on JL 24 and DH 256 Varieties of Groundnut

This experiment compares the incidence of lepidopteran pests under protected and unprotected groundnut cultivation at AICRP on Groundnut, MARS, Dharwad, Karnataka in the kharif season of 2021–2022. In order to protect the protected plot from pests, protection measures were implemented at 50 DAS using flubendiamide 20 WG @ 0.5g/l for leaf-eating caterpillars. Based on the crop's phenology, observations were made. Spodoptera litura, Thysanoplusia orichalcea, Helicoverpa armigera, and Maruca vitrata, were deemed to be the main pests, with the remaining pests being of less significance based on their population density and type of damage. When comparing unprotected JL-24 and DH-256 crop plots to protected plots, the majority of major and minor pests were infested during the vegetative to maturity stage, with maximum infestation occurring during the pod formation and pod filling stages of the crop. In comparison to unprotected plots, protected plots had the highest pod and haulm yields.