Evaluation of different IPM modules against ber stone weevil, Aubeus himalayanusin hot arid region of India

Abstract

The ber stone weevil, Aubeus himalayanus Voss (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) appeared to be an emerging pest reported from various region of India. The stone weevil is an emerging threat for ber production in India especially in Northern India. The results showed that organic IPM module-II registered significantly lower stone weevil population (12.04 % on retained fruits & 15.04% in dropped fruits) followed by module-I (21.26 % on plant fruits & 26.15% in fallen fruits). The highest stone weevil population was observed under control module (49.23 % on retained fruits & 54.91% in dropped fruits). The marketable yield of ber fruits differed significantly under different modules. The fresh fruit yield of ber was observed in the order of organic IPM module-II (82.26 kg/ plant)> module-I (78.25 kg/ plant)> module-IV (73.14 kg/ plant)> module-III (64.81 kg/ plant) and least under control module (56.27 kg/ plant) in pooled both years. It can be inferred from the results that organic IPM module-II (Moderately resistant genotype (Umran), deep summer ploughing after pruning of plants, neem oil spray @ 5 ml per litre of water in October month, hand picking of damaged fruit and adult in November month and spray of spinosad 46 SC @ 0.4 ml per litre of water in December month) was highly effective and gave higher yield of marketable ber fruits. The benefit-cost ratio of the tested ber production systems in the control of stone weevil decreased in the following order: module-II (B: C ratio 10.41:1)> module-I (B: C ratio 9.41:1)> module-IV (B: C ratio 7.08:1)> module-III (B: C ratio 3.66:1).