Field Evaluation of Biopesticides against Rice Insect Pests under Organic Farming Singh Subash, Sarao P S1,* School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana141004, Punjab, India 1Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana141004, Punjab, India *Email: preetento@pau.edu (corresponding author)
Online Published on 04 January, 2024. Abstract Neem based commercial formulations Ecotin (azadirachtin 5%; 50,000 ppm) @ 150,175 and 200 ml ha-1, and standard checks- Achook (azadirachtin 0.15%; 1500 ppm) @ 2500 ml ha-1 were applied at pest appearance for evaluating them for the management of rice stem borers Scirpophaga spp. and leaf folder Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee) on basmati and non-basmati rice under organic cultivation conditions. In basmati, the reduction of deadhearts due to stem borers was observed to be maximum with Ecotin @ 200 ml ha-1 as 55.79 and 56.84% at 5 and 10 DAS, respectively; while white ears were at 55.99% in 2019; and reduction of deadhearts was 50.45 and 45.75% at 5 and 10 DAS, respectively, while white ears reduced up to 50.71% in 2020. Similarly, reduction of damaged leaves due to leaf folder was 55.80 and 59.62% at 5 and 10 DAS, respectively; and in 2020, it was 50.45 and 45.75% at 5 and 10 DAS, respectively. Ecotin 5% @ 200 ml ha-1 gave maximum crop yield (31.29 q ha-1). In non-basmati rice too the reduction of deadhearts was maximum with Ecotin @ 200 ml ha-1, while white ears reduced by 50.47% in 2019, with similar trend in 2020; also results were of similar trend with leaf folder. The occurrence of spiders revealed a non-significant difference among the treatments. The biopesticides caused no residual or phytotoxic effects and were safe to the environment and predatory fauna. Top Keywords Field evaluation, Rice, Scirpophaga sp., Cnaphalocrocis medinalis, Ecotin, Achook, Basmati, Nonbasmati, Stem borers, Deadhearts, Damaged leaves, Rice yield, Organic farming. Top |