Damage in vegetable crops caused by brown slug (Filicaulis alte Ferussac)

Brown slug with black spots (Filicaulis alte Ferussac) was found to inhabit vegetable crop fields in Kaddon village of Ludhiana District of Punjab. The slug caused three types of damage to vegetable crops viz. entire seedling consumed, irregular feeding holes on the leaf lamina and making mine-like holes in fruits like tomato. The entire seedling was consumed only up to 6-leaf stage of seedling growth and showed preference for young seedling during 2- or 4-leaf stage. The maximum seedling damage was 32.8 per cent in brinjal during last week of February, 22.5 per cent in tomato during mid-March, 44.4 per cent in bottle gourd during early July, 91.6 per cent in squash melon, 65.6 per cent in summer squash, 63.4 per cent in cucumber, 62.8 per cent in long melon, 30.2 per cent in sponge gourd, 35.5 per cent in turnip, 30.9 per cent in radish during September, 43.1 per cent in spinach, 50.8 per cent in cabbage, 41.3 per cent in cauliflower during October, and 47.7 per cent in mustard during first week of November. The results suggest that there is a need to adopt properly timed control measures to avoid crop damage due to slugs.