Vol. 7, Issue 10, Part A (2025)

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), also known as lady's finger, is a widely cultivated vegetable in tropical countries, particularly in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Cameroon, Iraq, and Ghana. Although it is not commonly grown in Europe and North America, the vegetable has gained popularity in these regions due to its high nutritional value, including significant amounts of Vitamin A, folic acid, carbohydrates, phosphorus, and magnesium. The present investigation entitled “Seasonal Incidence and Management of Major Insect Pests of Okra” was carried out during the Kharif 2024 season at the Department of Entomology, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani. The study was designed to assess the seasonal incidence patterns of major insect pests infesting okra, the experiment included non-replicated observational trials for pest incidence monitoring Parbhani kranti variety, grown on a 10 X 10 m plot under the practices weekly observations of sucking pests populations on randomly selected plants were correlated with weather data. Seasonal pest monitoringrevealed that Aphis gossypii (aphid), Amrasca biguttula biguttula (leafhopper), Bemisia tabaci (whitefly), Thrips tabaci (thrips), Tetranychus urticae (mite), and Earias vittella (okra shoot and fruit borer) were the predominant insect pests observed. Aphid populations reached it’s peak 29.4 aphids per three leaves in the 40th meteorological week (MW), while leafhoppers showed a maximum count of 19.5 in the 37th MW. Whitefly and thrips populations reached their highest in the 33rd and 31st MWs respectively. Mite infestations shows it peakin the 37th MW, and Earias vittella damage reached it’s highest 27.4% fruit infestation in the 35th MW.