Assessment of chemical and biological Insecticides for the management of cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae (L.) under laboratory conditions - A review

Abstract

The cabbage white butterfly, Pieris brassicae Linn. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) is a serious pest of cabbage and the insect pest alone causes more than 40% of yield loss of vegetables annually. It causes extensive damage in almost all parts of India including north eastern states, during seedling, vegetative and flowering stages of cole crops. There are some chemical and biological insecticides for the management of cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae (L.) under laboratory conditions. It had been studied that the insecticidal effect of a liquid of Bacillus thuringiensis applied to the egg stage in Plutella xylostella, Spodoptera litura, and Pieris rapae under laboratory conditions.In all of the three insect pests tested, Bt applied to the egg stage had no effect on eclosion, but caused substantial mortality of the larvae coming out of the Bt-treated eggs. Tariq observed that Helicoverpa armigera was resistant to conventional insecticides, so there should be new insecticides which can manage the pest in more efficient and economical manner. Aggarwal reported that the maximum mortality of 58 and 27% was obtained in Bta +NA treatments in case of 2nd and 4th instar larvae of H. armigera under laboratory conditions followed by Bta(50 and 14%) and NA (34 and 7%) alone treatments. The results indicated that Btaand NA have the potential to the control of H. armigera and S. exigua either independently or in combination, when used at the right stage of the field populations. There are many chemical and biological insecticides management of cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae (L.) under laboratory conditions.