TY - BOOK AU - Shahanaz M R AU - Berin Pathrose (Guide) TI - Insecticide based bait formulation aganist tobacco caterpillar spodoptera litura (fabricius) (lepidoptera: noctuidae) U1 - 632.6 PY - 2018/// CY - Vellanikkara PB - Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Horticulture KW - Agricultural Entomology N1 - MSc N2 - Spodoptera litura Fab. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a polyphagous pest with cosmopolitan distribution, causing severe defoliation in economically important crops. The current management strategy for this pest relies heavily on blanket spraying of insecticides which may not reach the target. Indiscriminate use of pesticides indirectly affects various non-target organisms and also will lead to the problems like resurgence, resistance and secondary pest outbreaks. Baiting technique comprises an attractive food along with an insecticide to lure insect pests and kill. The amount of insecticide active ingredient applied per unit area with the use of bait is much lower than that of blanket insecticide sprays. Hence, the present study was undertaken to identify a potential insecticidal bait for the management of S. litura. The study was conducted during 2017-2018 at the Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Horticulture Vellanikkara, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur. In order to identify a base material preferred by S. litura, baits were prepared by using different substrate, viz., rice bran, maize bran and wheat bran along with jaggery and water. Mean consumption of bait by the S.litura larvae after 48h were recorded and results revealed superiority of bait containing wheat bran and jaggery in 8:2 ratio, followed by maize bran. Spodoptera litura larvae consumed 0.1980 g of wheat bran based bait in a period of 48 hours. After screening the base material for bait the standardisation of phagostimulants, such as yeast (1%), starch (0.2%), and coconut oil (1%) as an additive to the bait to increase the attractiveness of bait was done. Bait containing starch (0.2%) was found to be very attractive and resulted in doubling of the consumption of bait (0.3842 g) in comparison to the control. Hence, wheat bran based diet with starch (0.2%) was chosen for further studies. Insecticides, viz., chlorpyriphos (20% EC), thiodicarb (75% WP), lambda cyhalothrin (5% EC), fipronil (5% SC), spinosad (45% SC), emamectin benzoate (5% SG), flubendiamide (39.35% SC) and chlorantraniliprole (18.5% SC) were evaluated along with two microbials, NPV of S. litura (0.5% AS), and Bacillus thuringiensis (5% WP). All the pesticides were evaluated at the doses viz., 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 75 per cent of recommended dose. The results showed that emamectin benzoate (5% SG), thiodicarb (75% WP) and chlorpyriphos (20% EC) as superior poison baits which showed 100 per cent mortality at 25 % concentration of recommended dose within 12 h. Fipronil 5% SC in 24 h (75% recommended dose) and spinosad 45% SC in 48 h (75% recommended dose) also lead to cent per cent mortality in the shortest time. The above five insecticides were chosen for the evaluation of poison baits in field. Poison baits were evaluated in field planted with cowpea (var. Anaswara). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design and replicated thrice with an absolute control (without bait) and a control plot (with unpoisoned bait). In order to prevent the movement of larvae from one plot to another plot were separated by polythene sheets. In each plot 5 plants were tagged, which were equally distributed from the centre of the plot. Twenty five six day old larvae were released at the centre of each plot. After 10 days defoliation was measured using leaf area meter. Two regression equations were worked out for central leaf and side leaves of the trifoliate leaf of cowpea. Initial leaf area was assessed by measuring the length and breadth of the leaf and substituting the breadth of the leaf in the regression equation. Observation on leaf defoliation revealed that in emamectin benzoate baited plots consumption was very low (2.95 cm2/5 plants/plot) after 10 days of treatment followed by thiodicarb (8.44 cm2/5 plants/plot), chlorpyriphos (12.38 cm2/5 plants/plot), fipronil (12.69 cm2/5 plants/plot) and spinosad (30.61 cm2/5 plants/plot). Poison baiting with insecticides was found to be beneficial in reducing the damage caused by S. litura at levels lower than the recommended dose with minimum disturbance to non-target organisms UR - http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810144227 ER -