Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to the documentation of chilli thrips with special reference to invasive thrips, T. parvispinus and their natural enemies in major chilli growing district of Karnataka. A roving survey was carried out in ten major chilli growing districts of Karnataka viz., Bidar, Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Dharwad, Haveri, Ballari, Kalaburgi, Yadgiri and Raichur during the crop growing seasons of 2023-24 and 2024-25. Survey results revealed that the seven thrips species were recorded on chilli host across the major chilli growing districts of Karnataka. The chilli thrips species viz., Thrips parvispinus (Karny), T. palmi (Karny), T. hawaiiensis (Morgan), T. florum (Schmutz), Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom), F. occidentalis (Pergande) and Megalurothrips usitatus (Bagnall). Ballari district documented the highest population of T. parvispinus (25.39 thrips per three terminal twigs) followed by Haveri, Raichur, Kalburgi and Dharwad. The moderate but considerable population was noticed in Chitradurga, Yadgiri, Davanagere and bidar. The lesser population of thrips observed in Shivamogga district. The four coccinellids species viz., Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius), Coccinella transversalis (Fabricius), Harmonia octomaculata (Fabricius) and Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) and other predators are like predatory bug and Spiders were also documented on chilli thrips.