Ecofriendly Management of Green Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Insect Pests through Plant Extracts

Abstract

Plant extracts appear as promising biorational alternatives to hazardous synthetic insecticides. This research was carried in a farmer’s field in Malam Jaba (Swat, KPK) during 2019-2020 Rabi season to evaluate the efficiency of some selected botanical extracts against the key insect pests of green pea (Pisum sativum L.) and their effect on yield/cost benefit ratio. The randomized complete block design (RCBD) was followed with 9 treatments and a control each replicated thrice. Treatments including the extracts of garlic bulb (Allium sativum) @ 2%, tobacco dry leaves (Nicotiana tabacum) @ 2%, red chili (Capsicum spp.) @ 5% and Chinaberry dry fruits (Melia azedarach) @ 10% concentrations were used singly and tobacco dry leaves (N. tabacum) + Chinaberry dry fruits (M. azedarach) @ 1% + 5%, garlicbulb (A. sativum) + Red chili(Capsicum spp.) @1% + 2.5%, tobacco dry leaves (N. tabacum) + Red chili (Capsicum spp.) @ 1%+2.5%, and garlic bulb (A. sativum)+ Chinaberry dry fruits (M. azedarach) @ 1%+2.5% were used in combination as treatments. The results showed that Chinaberry dry fruits (M.azedarach) caused highest percent decrease of leafminer (71.92 %), followed by the combination of garlic bulb (A.sativum) + red chili (Capsicum spp.) (59.98 %), and tobacco dry leaves (N.tabacum) + Red chili (Capsicum spp.) (33.32 %). The plot treated with Chinaberry dry fruits (M.azedarach) caused the least amount of pod borer damage (10.10 %), followed by the combination garlic bulb (A.sativum) + red chili (Capsicum spp.) (13.63 %), while the control plot caused most of the pod borer damage (44.25 %). The Chinaberry dry fruits (M.azedarach) plot had the highest yield of 3333.3 kgha-1. Chinaberry dry fruits (M.azedarach) had the lowest cost with the highest production in the form of yield at 1:45. This research will serve as an important step towards developing sustainable pesticide management strategies in the future to increase production while reducing control costs and environmental impact