Abstract
Adult and larval stages of Nodostoma waterhousie Jacoby have been known to skeletonize the foliage of poplar trees. Damage by this pest in terms of percentage was evaluated for the first time of 46 clones of Populus deltoides, 8-provenances of P. ciliata and 4 other species, namely P. euphratica, P. nigra, P. robusta and P. yunnanensis during its peak activity period, under nursery conditions in Himachal Pradesh.
The results revealed that clones 2504, 3294, D-2354, 3928, A-37 (1001), 2054 (1015), 3278, 2652, G-48, 2498, D-2437 (81) of P. deltoides were most resistant to attack (infestation les than 25%). In case of P. ciliata provenances “Pinder”, “Chhazpur” and “Bhadarwa” were found to be least susceptible to attack (infestation less than 10%). While for the other 4 species of poplars namely, P. robusta, P. euphratica, P. nigra and P. yunnanensis infestation was 31.41%, 32.61%, 36.42% and 55.90% respectively.
Keywords