Assessment of Lecanicillum lecanii (Zimmermen) against sucking pests in Bt cotton

Abstract

An on-farm trial on the assessment of Lecanicillum lecanii (Zimmermen) on management of sucking pests in cotton on farmer’s fields was conducted by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kampasagar during kharif 2015 to 2017. Three sprayings of L. lecanii @ 5 g/ l from 25 DAS (days after sowing) at an interval of 10 days were taken up. Incidence of leaf hopper Amrasca biguttula biguttula (Ishida), thrips Thrips tabaci (L.) and whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genn) were observed as counts three leaves. Significantly less incidence i.e. 2.9, 4.3 and 4.5, respectively, was observed in improved practice (spraying of entomopathogenic fungi L. lecanii @ 5 g/ l three times with an interval of 10 days from 25 DAS) as against farmers’ practice (i.e. 4.9, 9.0 and 7.9, respectively). Seed cotton yield was significantly more with improved practice (2335.7 kg/ ha) with 18.9% increase. Higher gross and net returns, and benefit cost ratio were obtained with improved practice.