Management of White grub (Leucopholis burmesterie) infesting Arecanut through Entomopathogenic Nematodes under field conditions Rajkumar*, Patil Jagadeesh1, Pervez Rashid2, Subhaharan Kesavan1 ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod-671 124 (Kerala) 1ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Bengaluru-560 024 (Karnataka) 2Division of Nematology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012 *rajkumarcpcri@gmail.com
Online published on 20 July, 2019. Abstract The present investigation was carried out to find out the response of combined application of native strains of EPN and imidacloprid insecticide on suppression of root grub Leucopholis burmesterie and other symptomatic parameters in root grub affected arecanut palms and yield. The result indicated that significant reduction in grub population as well as increase yield and emergence of healthy roots in treated palms compare to farmer practice. The combined application of EPN, Steinernema carpocapsae @ 1.0 × 107 P−1 + imidacloprid @ 0.004% (1 ml/5 litre water/palm) has resulted in an average 53.1% reduction of grub population within two years of treatment then exclusive application of EPN and imidacloprid (P<0.05) in root grub infested arecanut gardens at Karnataka. Resulted, native strains S. carpocapsae combination with imidacloprid may be used as an effective curative measure for root grub infestation in arecanut. The infectivity of the tested EPNs against root grub is opens up a new hope of utilizing them in insect pest management in arecanut. Top Keywords Areca catechu, Imidacloprid, Leucopholis burmesterie, Steinernema carpocapsae.. Top |