The Grape Entomology

Intensive and extensive cultivation of grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) leads to serious pest problem in vineyards in major grape growing areas of the world. Climatic conditions in India are favorable for high production of table and wine grapes, and thus also for incidence of variety of pests. These include the sucking insect pests namely thrips, hoppers, mealybugs etc., and beetle pests like stem borer, stem girdler, flea beetles, chafer beetles, shot hole borer and several lepidopteron, mites, nematodes and vertebrate pests. Pests of grapes in other countries relevant to Indian conditions are also dealt herewith since they may get introduced in India in future. Up to date information on biology, damage, seasonal development, management practices of the pests are covered in this book. Some of the pest management practices followed in other countries are also given, which will be useful to Indian conditions. Pesticide residue is a serious problem both for export and internal market in grapes. Guideline for pesticide residue management in grapes is also given in this book. The authors have tried to accommodate almost all the important information generated on the grape pests up to 2012. A complete list of grape pests (except disease) occurring in different grape growing regions of the world is also covered in this book which will be ready reckoner for the grape workers. The authors sincerely hope that this book will provide useful information to many entomologists, students working on grapes and the grape growers in the country. It is a pleasure to thank all those people who gave help, suggestions and encouragement in the preparation of our book “The Grape Entomology”.

Dr. M. Mani is an agricultural scientist with over 35 years of R&D experience in the entomological research. He has served in Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. His focal subject is pest control in horticultural crops including grapes. Presently, he is an Emeritus professor of ICAR, New Delhi. He has received numerous awards including life time achievement award for his contribution to the research in horticulture entomology.

Dr. Narendra Kulkarni has worked as an agricultural scientist at NRC Grapes, Pune, for 6 years and contributed significantly in developing Integrated Pest Management on grapes. He was also associated with the APEDA sponsored project entitled “Regulation of export of fresh grapes from India through monitoring of pesticide residues”. He has been awarded with “Abhinav Gourav” citation and gold medal for outstanding contribution to the grape growers of Maharashtra. Presently, he is a Senior Scientist at IGFRI, RRS, Dharwad.

Dr. C. Shivaraju has extensively worked on insects infesting several agricultural and horticultural crops in Indian Institute of Horticultural Research and National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects both located at Bangalore. He has significantly contributed to the research on eucalyptus and papaya pest management.