Efficacy of Insecticides in the Management of Podfly Melanagromyza obtusa on Pigeonpea
Two field experiments conducted during Kharif, 2010 and 2011 to evaluate the efficacy of insecticides against podfly, Melanagromyza obtusa Malloch on pigeonpea showed that the grain damage due to podfly was the lowest in fipronil 20 SC (13.3%) and dimethoate (14.0%), followed by thiamethoxam 25% WG (16.6%) with 69.7, 68.1 and 62.1 per cent reduction over control, respectively. The untreated plot recorded maximum damage of 43.8%. Highest grain yield was recorded in fipronil treated plots (444.9 kg/ha), followed by thiacloprid (417.0 kg/ha) and dimethoate (395.6 kg/ha) with 47.5, 38.3 and 31.2 per cent increase over control, respectively as against the minimum yield of 301.6 kg/ha in the untreated check. Though the yields were more in fipronil and thiacloprid treatments, the ICBR was highest in thiamethoxam (1: 7.79) and dimethoate (1: 6.16), followed by acetamiprid (1:4.11) and thiacloprid (1:3.41).