Evaluation of bioefficacy, phytotoxicity of imidacloprid 17.1% SL against plant and leaf hoppers and its safety to non-target invertebrates in rice

Abstract

The two field experiments were conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to evaluate bioefficacy, phytotoxicity effect if any of imidacloprid 17.1% SL against plant and leaf hoppers and its safety to non target invertebrates in rice during September – December 2014 and January – April 2016. The results revealed that imidacloprid 17.1% SL @ 60 g ai ha-1 was effective in reducing plant and leaf hoppers population. The pooled mean population (two consecutive seasons) of BPH, WBPH and GLH was recorded as 0.78, 0.60 and 0.60 hill-1 respectively. The imposed treatments were found safer to non target invertebrates like spiders, coccinellids and rove beetles. Furthermore, no phytotoxic effect was observed even in treatments imposed with imidacloprid 17.1% SL @ 60, 120 and 240 g ai ha-1.