editorialteam
Well-Known Member
Push-Pull strategy : The newest approach of eco-friendly pest management programme to control Insect Pests in Brinjal
Brinjal or egg plant is the important vegetable cultivated in India which is much popular and principal vegetable grown across the country throughout the year except at the higher altitudes. Although it is a very hardy crop and almost resists many pests and diseases yet proper pest management practices could bring about its higher production and yield. Brinjal is continuously attacked by several pests since its seedling stage till its maturity and harvesting. The most common pests which cause reduction in yield and marketability of brinjal are Brinjal fruit and shoot borer, Hadda beetle, jassids, white fly, thrips, aphids , flea beetle and others. Among them Brinjal fruit and shoot borer cause devastating damage by boring into the shoot during vegetative stage and bore fruits during fruiting stage. Hadda beetle scraps the leaves causing skeletonisation and severe defoliation. Thus proper pest detection and adoption of proper control measure should be done.
Too much insecticide use may hamper the environment and kills the beneficial insects like butterflies, moths, honey bees , wasps and others. So a new approach to eco-friendly insecticides is the PUSH-PULL strategy, where we can grow the main crop in a plot surrounded by other medicinal, aromatic or forage companion crops like black cumin, coriander, sweet potato, maize, French beans, marigold. Here the pests instead of attacking the main crop get attracted to the companion crops and the main crop remains pest free. Brinjal can be grown in the middle of the plot in five rows with three plants at each rows surrounded by the companion crops like tomato, maize, French beans. Economic returns can be achieved from both the main crop and the companion crop at a particular time. Also, pest control can be achieved without harming the environment.
Maize grown at the perimeter of the brinjal main crop can be successfully used in the management of brinjal fruit and shoot borer and the fruits retain their marketability without any holes due to the pest larvae. Also maize crop provide us with considerably high economic return together with the brinjal from the same plot. Similarly French beans grown with the brinjal can considerably deter the Flea beetle attack to brinjal which causes shot holes in brinjal leaves and severe defoliation. Thus from the same plot we could get brinjal fruits and beans at the same time. Eventually this method could bring about successful pest control and higher economic returns from the same piece of land. Periodic spraying with eco-friendly insecticides can be done to control borer and sucking pests. Yet, successive conventional spraying strategies is not used which could also reduce the cost of cultivation for the farmers. Spraying the brinjal crops with eco-friendly insecticides like Bufrofezin (1.5 mL/L) used for sucking pests whereas Spinosad ( 1 mL/3 L) is used for the borer pests. Together with this Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt) and Beauveria bassiana microbial insecticides can be used at 2-3 gm/L for the control of borer and sucking pests respectively. These sprayings are done only when the pests population is high enough to cross ETL.
Together with this pest control measures, pest monitoring and male moth trapping could be done with the successful installation of Pheromone traps with the suitable lure ( Leucin) for brinjal fruit and shoot borer. 4 traps can be used for nearly 2 bigha of land with weekly counting of the male moths and successful use of neem based insecticides like Azadex. Yellow sticky traps for the aphids and white fly control can also be installed at 2-3 inches above the crop canopy. Pheromone installation in the field can successfully control the shoot and fruit borer pest upto the extent of 48%-50%. Together with this mechanical control, growing of marigold around the perimeter of the main crop field of brinjal can successfully control the nematode population which produce root galls in brinjal.
Contact Details :
Mainak Bhattacharyya
Ph.D Research Scholar, Agricultural Entomology
Department of Agricultural Entomology
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal
Email id: mainakbckv24@gmail.com
Contact : +91-7477358369
Brinjal or egg plant is the important vegetable cultivated in India which is much popular and principal vegetable grown across the country throughout the year except at the higher altitudes. Although it is a very hardy crop and almost resists many pests and diseases yet proper pest management practices could bring about its higher production and yield. Brinjal is continuously attacked by several pests since its seedling stage till its maturity and harvesting. The most common pests which cause reduction in yield and marketability of brinjal are Brinjal fruit and shoot borer, Hadda beetle, jassids, white fly, thrips, aphids , flea beetle and others. Among them Brinjal fruit and shoot borer cause devastating damage by boring into the shoot during vegetative stage and bore fruits during fruiting stage. Hadda beetle scraps the leaves causing skeletonisation and severe defoliation. Thus proper pest detection and adoption of proper control measure should be done.
Too much insecticide use may hamper the environment and kills the beneficial insects like butterflies, moths, honey bees , wasps and others. So a new approach to eco-friendly insecticides is the PUSH-PULL strategy, where we can grow the main crop in a plot surrounded by other medicinal, aromatic or forage companion crops like black cumin, coriander, sweet potato, maize, French beans, marigold. Here the pests instead of attacking the main crop get attracted to the companion crops and the main crop remains pest free. Brinjal can be grown in the middle of the plot in five rows with three plants at each rows surrounded by the companion crops like tomato, maize, French beans. Economic returns can be achieved from both the main crop and the companion crop at a particular time. Also, pest control can be achieved without harming the environment.
Maize grown at the perimeter of the brinjal main crop can be successfully used in the management of brinjal fruit and shoot borer and the fruits retain their marketability without any holes due to the pest larvae. Also maize crop provide us with considerably high economic return together with the brinjal from the same plot. Similarly French beans grown with the brinjal can considerably deter the Flea beetle attack to brinjal which causes shot holes in brinjal leaves and severe defoliation. Thus from the same plot we could get brinjal fruits and beans at the same time. Eventually this method could bring about successful pest control and higher economic returns from the same piece of land. Periodic spraying with eco-friendly insecticides can be done to control borer and sucking pests. Yet, successive conventional spraying strategies is not used which could also reduce the cost of cultivation for the farmers. Spraying the brinjal crops with eco-friendly insecticides like Bufrofezin (1.5 mL/L) used for sucking pests whereas Spinosad ( 1 mL/3 L) is used for the borer pests. Together with this Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt) and Beauveria bassiana microbial insecticides can be used at 2-3 gm/L for the control of borer and sucking pests respectively. These sprayings are done only when the pests population is high enough to cross ETL.
Together with this pest control measures, pest monitoring and male moth trapping could be done with the successful installation of Pheromone traps with the suitable lure ( Leucin) for brinjal fruit and shoot borer. 4 traps can be used for nearly 2 bigha of land with weekly counting of the male moths and successful use of neem based insecticides like Azadex. Yellow sticky traps for the aphids and white fly control can also be installed at 2-3 inches above the crop canopy. Pheromone installation in the field can successfully control the shoot and fruit borer pest upto the extent of 48%-50%. Together with this mechanical control, growing of marigold around the perimeter of the main crop field of brinjal can successfully control the nematode population which produce root galls in brinjal.
Contact Details :
Mainak Bhattacharyya
Ph.D Research Scholar, Agricultural Entomology
Department of Agricultural Entomology
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal
Email id: mainakbckv24@gmail.com
Contact : +91-7477358369