Eco-feast crop plants for insect pest management in groundnut

Abstract

Field experiment was conducted to test the effect of border crops in groundnut on different insect pests during Kharif 2016 and rabi/summer 2016-17 seasons at Regional Research Station, Vridhachalam, Tamil Nadu, India. The eight treatments were T1- Groundnut+cowpea, T2-Groundnut+sunflower, T3-Groundnut+sesame, T4-Groundnut+redgram, T5- Groundnut+pearl millet, T6-Groundnut+sorghum, T7-Groundnut+maize and T8- Sole groundnut crop -control. Among the seven combinations, border cropping of groundnut with sorghum, pearl millet and maize recorded significantly the lowest population of thrips, leafhopper and reduced Spodoptera litura, Helicoverpa armigera and Aproaerema modicella damage. The incidence ofPeanut Bud necrosis Disease (PBND) was reduced to the tune of 49.23-52.30% compared to control by these combinations. More number of natural enemies viz., coccinellids (3.8/plant) and spider (4.2/plant) were recorded in groundnut border cropped with these cereal crops. The same combinations (T6, T5 and T7) increased the economic returns of 1:4.35, 1:4.3 and 1:3.8, respectively. It could be inferred that the fast growing and taller cereals could reduce the pests’ incidence in the main crop groundnut by acting as physical/mechanical barrier despite encouraging the natural enemies population.