N Save Nature to Survive 8(2): 385-389, 2013 www.thebioscan.in 385 INTEGRATED APPROACHES FOR MANAGEMENT OF PEST COMPLEX IN POINTED GOURD ( TRICHOSANTHES DIOICA ROXB) P. BARMA*, M. R. KHAN AND S. JHA Department of Agricultural Entomology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia – 741 252, West Bengal, INDIA e-mail: pranab.barma@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) is one of the most popular vegetable crops in north eastern part of India. The crop is grown during October-November and remains in field up to September. It has medicinal properties on circulatory system especially in lowering blood sugar and serum triglycerides (Chandrasekhar et al., 1988; Sharma and Pant, 1988) and anti-ulcerous effects (Singh, 1989) of fruits upon consumption. The crop is commonly cultivated in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal (Nath and Subramanyam, 1972) and in West Bengal shares nearly 78.4 thousand hectares with an annual production of 809.1 thousand MT (Anon., 2005-06). There are number of insect-pests attacking pointed gourd during growing season of the crop and management of pest complex is difficult using synthetic chemicals alone. The information on holistic management of pests in pointed gourd is still scanty. Jha et al. (2007) reported infestation of fruit fly to the tune of 17% on the crop in the district of Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia. Among the other pests, spider mite (Chintha et al., 2002; Patel and Karmakar, 2004, 2005) and root knot nematodes (Verma and Anwar, 1995, 1998; Mahapatra et al., 1999; Khan and Verma, 2004; Mukhopadhyay et al., 2006) are also the major menace to profitable cultivation of the crop. The application of synthetic pesticide is common practice by the vegetable growers without bothering their harmful effects. This is quite frequent in long duration crop like pointed gourd where picking of fruits is done at regular intervals. The present investigation was undertaken with a view to manage the multiple pests infesting pointed gourd by integrating fungal, neem and chemical products under West Bengal conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was conducted at Central Research Farm, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Gayeshpur (at 23ºN latitude, 89ºE longitude and 9.75m above sea level), West Bengal (India). The soil was a typical alluvial soil (Entisol) with a sandy clay loam texture with good drainage, slightly acidic pH and moderate fertility. The experiment consisted of seven treatments viz., carbosulfan 25EC + azadirachtin 1% (T 1 ), carbosulfan 25EC + neem granule + NSKE 5% (T 2 ), neem granule + NSKE 5% (T 3 ), carbofuran 3G + propergite 7.5% (T 4 ), carbosulfan 25EC + vermicompost + azadirachtin 1% (T 5 ), carbosulfan 25EC + vermicompost + Paecilomyces lilacinus (PL) + dicofol 18.5 EC followed by propergite 7.5% (T 6 ) and carbosulfan 25EC + PL + dicofol 18.5 EC (T 7 ). Each treatment was replicated three times on plots of 6 m 2 (3m x 2m) size maintaining 6 pits at spacing of 100x130 cm, laid out in a randomized block design. Mature root cuttings of pointed gourd cv. Dhapa were planted in three seasons during November to August in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. A female: male ratio of 6:1 was maintained per plot. Agronomic practices were followed as per recommendations of the crop for the region. The harvesting of fruits was done at regular interval starting from March-April to August. Root cuttings of pointed gourd were treated with carbosulfan 25EC by dipping ABSTRACT The experiment was done to evaluate the efficacy and economics of different combination of treatments at different dosage against major pests of pointed gourd. Results of three consecutive seasons showed that the treatments T 2 (carbosulfan 25EC + neem granule + NSKE 5%) and T 4 (carbofuran 3G + propergite 7.5%) contained consistently lowest level of fruit fly, leaf roller and epilachna infestation. While T 6 (carbosulfan 25EC + vermicompost + Paecilomyces lilacinus (PL) + dicofol 18.5 EC followed by propergite 7.5%) and T 7 (carbosulfan 25EC + PL + dicofol) took much better care for root knot nematodes and mites infestation in pointed gourd. Further yield component was highest in these treatments than T 4 or T 2 , which was not at all potent enough to decimate yield alarmingly. Considering incremental cost benefit ratio (ICBR), adoption of carbosulfan 25EC + azadirachtin 1% (T 1 ) was found to be the most economical (ICBR~6.67 in 2007-08, 8.23 in 2008-09 and 8.18 in 2009-10). However, T 6 would be an option where nematode egg parasitic fungus, P. lilacinus in combination with dicofol and propergite restrict both root knot nematode and red spider mite population development on the long duration crop like pointed gourd. KEY WORDS Pointed gourd Root knot nematode Epilachna Leaf roller Mite Received on : 07.12.2012 Accepted on : 07.03.2013 *Corresponding author