author(s)
MH Poornima, JB Gopali, SI Athani, Venkateshalu and Suvarna Patil

abstract
The experiment was conducted to study the influence of different planting densities on population dynamics of major insect pests of mango at Regional Horticultural Research and Extension Centre (RHREC), Dharwad during 2016-17 and 2017-18. The results revealed that among the different planting densities, ultra high density planting system (4.2 × 0.9 m, 4.2 × 1.2 m, 4.2 ×1.5 m, 4.2 ×1.5 and 2.5 × 2.5 m) and high density planting system (5.0 × 2.5 m, 5.0 × 5.0 m and 7.5 × 5.0 m) recorded higher incidence of leaf hopper and fruit fly damage as compared to conventional planting system 10 × 10 m. However, cost effectiveness of different planting density indicated that 5 × 5 m (400 plants/ha) had obtained maximum net returns (Rs. 213640 ha-1) with highest B:C ratio (4.24) as compared to conventional planting of 10 × 10 m (100 plants/ha) suggesting that both from entomological and agronomical point of view, 5 × 5 m (400 plants/ha) spacing is optimum, economically viable, easily adoptable and practically acceptable by the farming community.