The Journal of Plant Protection Sciences, (1) : , 2010 2 96-99 Incidence of aphids in different traps on potato in Gangetic plains of West Bengal 1 2 3 N. Johnson Singh, Amitava Konar and Palash Mondal 1&2 3 Department of Entomology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, Nadia, West Bengal. E-mail: johnson.singh1@gmail.com Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Viswa-Bharati, Sriniketan-731 236, Birbhum, West Bengal. ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted during season of 2006-07 and 2007- 08 atAdisaptagram Block Seed Farm, Hooghly, West Bengal to evaluate the population dynamics of aphids with the help of yellow pan trap and yellow sticky trap. The population of aphid catches was quite lower in yellow pan trap than yellow sticky trap. Aphids were first observed in traps during third week of December and the population of pests gradually increased to reach the peak in second week of February in the first year of study (2006-07) while in second year of study (2007-08) the aphid population appeared in second week of December and attained its peak by the end of February. The abiotic factors viz., temperature (maximum & minimum), relative humidity% (maximum & minimum) and bright sunshine hour had significant effect on aphid population. The same abiotic factors were quite different between the first and second year. This was due to the fact that the climatic conditions in second year varied distinctly from the first year. rabi Keywords: Potato, traps, aphids, Gangetic plains, West Bengal Introduction Materials and Methods The fourth most important food crop in the world Potato is one of the major food crop in India and ranks third in the production in the world (Khurana & Naik 2003). West Bengal is one of the major potato growing states due to its favorable climate and soil. However, the infestation of different insect pests, acts as a barrier in the production of the crop. Aphids are one of the most important pests of this crop and are widely distributed all over the world affecting a large number of host plants. The virus spreading ability of aphids, viz., (Sulzer) and Glover play important role in limiting disease free potato tuber production and cause quick degeneration of seed stocks and yield reduction in potato (Biswas 2004). For effective management of aphid species on potato, several broad spectrum synthetic organic pesticides are usually recommended. Various types of traps such as yellow pan trap and yellow sticky trap are used to evaluate for the management of aphids. The experiment was conducted under field conditions during 2006-07 and 2007-08 at Adisaptagram Block Seed Farm, Hoogly, West Bengal. The potato cv. Kufri Jyoti was flat sown at 60cm×20cm spacing at an area of (31.2×9.5) sq m. and all the agronomic practices were maintained. The sticky trap consisted of a small iron cylinder, measuring 24 cm in height and 14 cm in diameter, painted yellow, which was mounted vertically on an iron rod of 1.4 m., the Myzus persicae Aphis gossypii et al. rabi