Biopesticides and Beauveria bassiana against Green Semilooper, Thysanoplusia orichalcea and Capitulum Borer, Helicoverpa armigera in Sunflower
During Kharif season of 2010, six biopesticides including the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana were evaluated under field conditions for their efficacy against green semilooper Thysanoplusia orichalcea Fab. and capitulum borer, Helicoverpa armigera Hub. infesting sunflower. For the suppression of green semilooper, neem seed kernel extract-NSKE (5%), and pongamia seed kernel extract-PSKE (5%) were significantly superior and were at par with IPM module, endosulfan and profenophos. The present findings also revealed that NSKE and Ha NPV were potential candidates for the suppression of capitulum borer among the different biopesticides that were evaluated.