Management of mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi through entomopathogenic fungi

Abstract

Evaluation of different entomopathogenic fungi for managing mustard was carried out at Sardarkrushinagar in North Gujarat during Rabi season of 2016 under field condition. Among the different treatments evaluated against mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi the lowest aphid index (1.20) was observed in the plots treated with higher dose of Lecanicillium lecanii (1 × 109 cfu/gm) i.e. 60 g per 10 liter water and it was at par with higher dose of Beauveria bassiana (1 × 109 cfu/gm) i.e. 60 g per 10 liter water (1.27) at 9 days after 2nd spray. The highest grain yield (1356 kg/ha), maximum increase in grain yield (94.27%), minimum avoidable losses (4.13) as well as higher PCBR (1 : 4.19) was recorded from the plots treated with L. lecanii (1 × 109 cfu/gm) @ 60 g per 10 liter water and thus proved to be most effective against L. erysimi.