Screening of Brassica genotypes against mustard aphid under northern Indian Shivalik hill conditions

Oilseed Brassica plays the important role in Indian agriculture in relation to oil production. The major insects in Brassicas are Lipaphis erysimi, Bagrada hilaris, Athalia lugens proxima (Klug), Chromatomyia horticola Goureau, Pieris rapae, Bagrada cruciferarum Kirkaldy are of practical importance. Out of these, the Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt.) [mustard aphid], a part of family Aphididae with order Hemiptera leads to great yield losses in rapeseed-mustard. To overcome this problem, the easiest solution is to grow resistant and tolerant varieties. The screening is done on the basis of aphid infestation index scale for categorization of the genotypes into resistance and tolerance. Experiments were carried out at the experimental farm of Division of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu during rabi of 2017–18 and 2018–19 to evaluate mustard germplasm against Lipaphis erysimi and selecting the resistant genotypes of Brassica for its cultivation and expansion purposes. A total of fifteen cultivars were evaluated based on population buildup of mustard aphid and infestation index. The genotypes RSPN-28, CNH-11-13, RL-1359, HNS-1101, GSC-101, CNH-11-2 and HNS-1102 were found moderately resistant during the rabi 2017–2018 and during rabi 2018–2019, due to weather conditions only two genotypes CNH-13-2 and RSPN-29 were found moderately resistant and susceptible against aphid infestation.