Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(11): 1913-1921 1913 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.611.227 Seasonal Incidence and Management of Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) on Cabbage Crop Sonika Sharma * , Hafeez Ahmad, Suheel Ahmad Ganai, Devinder Sharma, Thanlass Norboo, Nadeya Khaliq and Mahesh Kumar Block No. 6, Division of Entomology, FoA, Main Campus, SKUAST-J, Chatha, Jammu-180 009, J&K, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction The cabbage white butterfly, Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), is a serious pest of cauliflower and cabbage in our region (Shankar et al., 2016) as well as world (Hasan, 2008). A single larva can consume about 74 to 80 cm 2 leaf area (Younas et al., 2004). In cruciferous vegetables, this pest alone causes 40 per cent yield loss annually in India (Hasan and Ansari, 2010). As a result of feeding, the plants either fail to form compact cabbage heads or produce deformed heads (Uddin et al., 2007). The severity of the incidence of insect pests is greatly influenced by the prevailing climatic conditions (Meena et al., 2013). At present, the information regarding the influence of weather parameters on the incidence of this pest and bioefficacy of insect growth regulators under field condition for their comparative efficacy against Pieris brassicae is very less. Therefore, keeping in view the economic importance of the crop and the magnitude of International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 11 (2017) pp. 1913-1921 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Experiments conducted on the seasonal incidence of Pieris brassicae L. during 2014-2015 and 2015- 2016 at the University Farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology- Jammu revealed that P. brassicae were first observed in the 43 rd standard week (1.33 larvae plant -1 ) and lowest population of 0.12 larvae per plant during the 15 th standard week. The P. brassicae population was maximum (5.74 larvae plant -1 ) in 7 th standard week, respectively. The maximum and minimum temperature showed significant negative correlation with r values (r = - 0.545** and r = - 0.631**), while relative humidity (morning) had a positive and highly significant effect with r value (r = 0.622**) impact on larval population. Whereas relative humidity (evening) and rainfall had no significant effect with r value (r = 0.162 and r = - 0.205) on the larval population. Regression studies revealed that the weather factors had 45.30 per cent contribution towards larval population. The relative efficacy of insect growth regulators against the cabbage white butterfly, P. brassicae showed that fenvalerate had higher efficacy against P. brassicae in reducing pest population. Mean population of P. brassicae after two sprays revealed that fenvalerate 0.004% was effective and superior. The next best were lufenuron 0.006% and novaluran 0.100% which were at par. chlorfenapyr 0.150% was found to be least effective against P. xylostella. Keywords Pieris brassicae, Seasonal incidence, Cabbage, Efficacy, Insect growth regulators. Accepted: 15 September 2017 Available Online: 10 November 2017 Article Info