Bio-ecological management of cucumber moth, Diaphania indica on bitter gourd

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Sunidhi Pilania, Surender Singh Yadav, Sunita Yadav, Krishna Rolania, Jyoti Indora, Amit Kumar and Malik M. Abaker, Entomology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India, Hisar, India, Rakesh Kumar, Plant Pathology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India, Hisar, India, Malik M. Abaker, Plant Protection, Plant Protection Directorate, Wad medani, Sudan

Background/Question/Methods
In agricultural ecosystems, ecological equilibrium may be rehabilitated by employing biological control agents based on natural enemies (i.e., predators and parasitoids) and pest disease agents. Utilization of bio-pesticides or biological pesticides in pest management is generally safe for the environment and non-target species, in comparison with synthetic chemicals. The cucumber moth, Diaphania indica is a polyphagous insect, posing serious threat to bitter gourd cultivation. Thus, the experiment was designed to evaluate the efficacy of different bio-pesticides namely Nimbecidine 0.03% EC @ 5ml/litre, Neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) 5%, Neem oil @ 4-5ml/litre, Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki 5 WP @ 1g/litre, Metarhizium anisopliae 2x109 CFU @ 5g/litre and Beauveria bassiana 2x109 CFU @ 5g/litre for the management of D. indica on bitter gourd during Kharif 2019 at Entomology Experimental Area, CCS HAU, Hisar, India.
Results/Conclusions
Results for overall efficacy revealed the high per cent reduction in D. indica populations by the treatment of B. thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki (65.47 %) and Nimbecidine 0.03% EC (63.80 %) followed by B. bassiana (54.52 %), Neem oil (52.76 %), M. anisopliae (51.46 %) and Neem seed kernel extract (25.88 %). Among various treatments, per cent fruit infestation was observed in the following order, Nimbecidine 0.03% EC (6.41 %) < B. thuringiensis (6.61 %) < B. bassiana (8.15 %) < neem oil (8.24 %) < M. anisopliae (9.08 %) < Neem seed kernel extract (14.22 %). After fruit picking, highest yield (8.26 tonnes/ ha) was recorded in B. thuringiensis followed by Nimbecidine 0.03% EC (8.04 t/ha), B. bassiana (7.83 t/ha), neem oil (7.54 t/ha), M. anisopliae (7.38 t/ha) and Neem seed kernel extract (6.18 t/ha) when compared with control (5.65 t/ha). Thus the cucurbit ecosystem can be effectively sustained using these bio-pesticides.
Keywords: Ecological management, Bio-pesticides, Cucumber moth, Bitter gourd.