Field efficacy of insecticide, biopesticide and pheromone trap against pea pod borer in District Shimla

Abstract

Pea is the second most important crop in apple growing regions of Himachal Pradesh after apple and growing legumes enriches the soil health because of their nitrogen fixing ability in soil. Pea pod borer is the serious pest of pea crop. The caterpillar not only defoliates the tender leaves but also makes holes in the pods and feed upon the developing grains. Therefore, the present studies on efficacy of some pesticides (insecticides+biopesticides) viz., Deltamethrin (Decis), Azadirachtin (Neem Gold), Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Mahastra) and pheromone trap with Helilure capsule were carried out against the pea pod borer infesting pea and further their effect on the yield of the pea crop was also studied at farmer’s field in Village Badiyara, PO Jangla, Tehsil Chirgaon Distt. Shimla, Himachal Pradesh during two consecutive years. The experiment comprised of five treatments viz., T1- Pheromone trap with Helilure capsule + Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki @2g/lt, T2- Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki @2g/lt, T3- Azadirachtin @3ml/lt, T4- Deltamethrin @1ml/lt and T5- Control (water only) with three replications. The pheromone trap with Helilure capsule was installed in the pea field when the crop was 30-days old and the spray was given after the emergence of the pest and the data on pod borer population were recorded after 1, 3 and 5 days after the pesticide applications. The results of the study revealed that there was reduction in the larval population of the pod borer and the highest mortality was recorded in the treatment T1 (1.36 larvae/ plant) with pheromone trap having Helilure capsule + Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki @2g/lt followed by T2 treatment (2.26 larvae/ plant) which was statistically at par with T3 (2.30 larvae/ plant) and T4 (2.40 larvae/ plant) while it was the lowest in T5 treatment (5.83 larvae/ plant). Among the treated plots, significantly highest yield of pea crop was recorded in the T1 treatment having 61q/ ha yield while the minimum yield of 49.5q/ ha was recorded in T5 (Control) treatment. Hence, the use of biopesticides with Pheromone trap should be encouraged in future as it is not only eco-friendly but economical as well.