Eco-friendly pest and disease management practices in groundnut

Abstract

Eco-friendly pest and disease control is a cost effective and environmentally safe practice to follow. In order to address farmer’s problem and promote eco-friendly approaches in management of pests like tobacco caterpillar, leaf miner, aphids, thrips, root rot and leaf spot diseases in Groundnut, Front Line Demonstration (FLD) was conducted. The trial showed that seed treatment with Trichoderma and soil application with Pseudomonas effectively managed root rot incidence compared to farmer’s practice where no such treatment was made which resulted in root rot incidence (5%). Installation of light traps and sticky traps effectively monitored the sucking pests. By the use of pheromone traps, the farmers completely avoided application of chemical pesticides to control tobacco caterpillar (Spodoptera litura), where adult moths of nearly 25 nos/week were trapped. This resulted in saving of INR 3500/-and an yield of 28q/ha was obtained compared to farmer’s practice (26 q/ha).