Management of diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (Linn.) through microbial pesticides in cabbage crop

Abstract

During 2015-16 and 2016-17, studies on control of diamondback moth using microbial pesticides were conducted at College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.). Based on the summary evaluation of microbial pesticide treatments against SH infestation, the best microbial pesticide for SH management was found to be Bacillus thuringiensis (2.53 larvae/plant), followed by Beauveria bassiana (3.23 larvae/plant). The efficacy of microbial pesticide treatments was evaluated based on the cumulative percentage reduction over the control of Bacillus thuringiensis (56.67%) > Beauveria bassiana (44.69%) > Metarhizium anisopliae (39.56%) > Verticillium lecanii (29.96%). The effect of Bacillus thuringiensis (Kurstaki) treatment (17.50 kg/plot) on yield was found better than other treatments followed by Beauveria bassiana > Metarhizium anisopliae > Verticillium lecanii with 14.50 > 14.13 > 11.25 kg/plot, in this order.