Evaluation of some biopesticides and new chemical insecticides against lepidopteran pod borers in vegetable pigeonpea

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) as a vegetable crop has gained importance due to rich dietary proteins. In this context, production of quality green pods is the need of the hour. Among the various insect pests, lepidopteran pod borers including blue butterfly, Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus) and Pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) has become real threat in vegetable pigeonpea production. Keeping this point in view, the field experiments was undertaken to evaluate some biopesticides and new chemical insecticides against lepidopteran pod borers during Kharif season of 2018-19 and 2019-20 at college of Horticulture, Bagalkot, Karnataka. The pooled data indicated that treatment application of chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC at 0.2 ml per liter and cyantraniliprole 10 OD at 1.2 ml per litre showed the least larval population, lowest pod damage with higher green pod yield followed by sequential application of B. bassiana (2 × 108 cfu/ml) at 2.0 ml per litre + azadirachtin (1000 ppm) at 1.0 ml per litre. However, the highest B: C ratio was obtained in the treatment chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC suggesting that two sprays of chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC at 0.2 ml per litre in 10 days interval after 50 per cent flowering is environmentally safe, economically viable to manage lepidopteran pod borers in vegetable pigeonpea along with obtaining residue free green seeds at the time of harvest.