Muhammad Saleem

Sunflower Insect Pests Control (Special Reference to Planting Dates) Muhammad Saleem

The elaborated research activity was performed at the research area of Oil Seed Research Institute, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad. Hybrid sunflower variety FH-331 was seeded by employing RCBD (Randomized Complete Block Design) with three replications and eleven treatments. Each treatment was pointing toward an isolated sowing date from January 8th to March 19th, 2014 with a separation of one week duration in each planting date. Final results showed that the sowing date after the mid February (i.e., February 19th) was better with mean populations of aphid (Aphis gossypii Glov.) 0.33/leaf, jassid (Amrasca biguttula biguttula Ishida) 3.70/leaf, whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gen.) 4.56/leaf, dusky cotton bug (Oxycarenus laetus Kirby) 0.56/leaf, false chinch bug (Nysius inconspicuus Distant.) 0.31/leaf, leaf miner (Liriomyza trifolii Burgess) 0.73/leaf, head borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hb.) 4.11/plant, semilooper (Thysanoplusia orichalcea F.) 3.20/plant and armyworm (Spodoptera litura F.) 0.00/plant. All other dates were not suitable when considering different insect pests. This research revealed that by changing the sowing date, insect pests damage can be lessened.