Impact of insecticides on mango pests and their natural enemies

Abstract

Impact of insecticides on mango pests and their natural enemies was studied at College of Agriculture, Vellayani and Padannakkad during 2015-16. Observations were recorded on pest and Natural Enemies (NEs) population at fortnightly intervals. Management studies were carried out in RBD and observations were recorded before and after spraying on 1,3,5,7,9,10 and 15 days. It was observed that NEs population was closely associated with the occurrence of pest population and found peak incidence during March-2015. Chlorantraniliprole 0.03% SC and flubendiamide 0.01% SC were found to be best treatments by reducing 82.41 and 74.60 per cent larvae/web respectively. Imidacloprid 0.005% and thiamethoxam 0.005% found to be better treatment with 90.64 and 87.40 per cent reduction of leaf hoppers respectively. But they had equally reduced the NEs population. Azadirachtin 1% and Beauveria bassiana 2% found to record highest number of NEs with moderate efficacy against the target pests.