THE HOST PLANT SUSCEPTIBILITY INDICES AND VARIETAL PREFERENCE OF JASSID (AMRASCA BIGUTULLA BIGUTULLA ISHIDA) ON EGGPLANT (SOLANUM MELONGENA L.) IN PUNJAB PAKISTAN

The present study evaluated relative plant resistance of different cultivars of egg plant(solanum melongena l.) against the jassid (amrasca biguttula biguttula). nine cultivars were tested for their susceptibility against jassid. all the cultivars were significantly different (p≤0.05) for the tested parameters i.e. pest preference, host plant susceptibility indices (hpsi) as well as yield/plot. infestation increased and reached its peak when the crop was 12- week old afterwards it decreased gradually. the most preferred variety of jassid was bemissal (3.36 jassids/ leaf) whereas the least preferred variety recorded was rubi (1.42 jassids per leaf). the bemissal proved to be the most susceptible cultivar having maximum level of hpsi (18%). however in terms of yield/ plot, bemissal resulted the lowest yield (35.25kg/plot). one the other hand, rubi was the least preferred cultivar (1.42 jassids/ leaf); having the lowest hpsi (7%) and the highest yield / plot (approx. 85.25kg/plot).