Comparative Efficacy of some Insecticides under Laboratory Conditions against 5th Instar Larva of Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio demoleus (Linn.) Singh Yogendra Pal1,*, Ramakant2 1Department of Zoology, V.S.P. Govt. PG College, Kairana, Shamli - 247 774, Uttar Pradesh (India) 2Department of Zoology, Maharishi University of Information Technology, Lucknow - 226 213, Uttar Pradesh (India) *e-mail: ypszoology2005@gmail.com
Online Published on 10 November, 2023. Abstract The swallowtail butterfly, Papilio demoleus (L.), is a serious insect-pest that causes huge losses to citrus crop. The caterpillars of P. demoleus are voracious feeder of citrus leaves. In order to control caterpillars, the lethal dose (LD50) and relative toxicity of three groups of insecticides i.e. synthetic pyrethroids (deltamethrin, cypermethrin and fenvelerate), organochlorine (endosulfan) and organophosphate (monocrotophos, phosphomidon and quinalphos) were estimated against 5th instar larva of P. demoleus. The LD50 values were worked out by topical method using acetone as solvent. The synthetic pyrethroids gave much lower LD50 values as compared to the organophosphate and organo-chlorine insecticides. Deltamethrin proved most toxic insecticide against 5th instar larvae of P. demoleus showing the LD50 of deltamethrin, cypermethrin, fenvalerate, endosulfan, quinalphos, monocrotophos, and phosphamidon as 0.00753836, 0.0098852, 0.021728, 0.179888, 0.3027134, 0.997872, and 2.518973 μg g−1, respectively. The relative toxicity of test insecticides against 5th instar larvae was in descending order as deltamethrin > cypermethrin > fenvalerate > endosulfan > quinalphos > monocrotophos > phosphomidon. Top Keywords Infestation, Insecticides, Larvae, Voracious feeder, Relative toxicity. Top |