193 Karnataka J. Agric. Sci., 28(2): (193-196) 2015 Bio-efficacy of insecticides, botanicals and biopesticide against the leaf eating caterpillar, Noorda blitealis Walker on drumstick M. S. BRUNDA KUMARI, Y. K. KOTIKAL, GANGADHAR B. NARABENCHI AND A. M. NADAF Department of Entomology, College of Horticulture, Bagalkot University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot - 587 104, Karnataka, India E-mail: ykkotikal@yahoo.co.in (Recevied: September, 2014 ; Accepted: April, 2015) Abstract: Drumstick is grown for pod as well as foliage yield and it is mainly attacked by leaf eating caterpillar Noorda blitealis Walker. Ten insecticides were tested against the defoliator, N. blitealis. Indoxacarb 15.8 EC @ 0.3 ml/l, emamectin benzoate 5 SG @ 0.25 g/l and fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/l were effective throughout the period of investigation being on par with each other but superior over thiodicarb 75 WP @ 2 g/l, NSKE @ 5%, Beauveria bassiana 1.15 SP @ 2 g/l, deltamethrin 2.8 EC @ 0.5 ml/l, malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/l and dichlorvos 76 EC @ 0.5 ml/l. Significantly maximum leaf yield was obtained from the treatments indoxacarb 15.8 EC @ 0.3 ml/l, emamectin benzoate 5 SG @ 0.25 g/l and fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/l (28.55, 27.60 and 27.45 t/ha, respectively). The next best treatments were deltamethrin 2.8 EC @ 0.5 ml/l (18.63 t/ha), malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/l (18.55 t/ha) and NSKE @ 5% (19.02 t/ha) and were on par with each other. The treatment indoxacarb 15.8 EC @ 0.3 ml/l recorded maximum additional yield (174 t/ha). Net return was highest in the treatment indoxacarb 15.8 EC @ 0.3 ml/l (‘ 87000 /ha). However, the higher incremental cost benefit ratio of 84.64 was obtained from the malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/l followed by fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/l (71.25) and deltamethrin 2.8 EC @ 0.5 ml/l (56.81). Key words: Biopesticide, Botanicals, Drumstick, Leaf eating caterpillar, New molecules Introduction Drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lamk.), a member of Moringaceae family, is one of the most popular vegetables in South India. The leaves are rich in protein, carotene, iron and ascorbic acid and they are used as vegetable. Like any other crop, drumstick trees are also vulnerable to the attack of number of insect pests and as many as 28 different insect species are recorded in India attacking at the various stages of this tree. The major destructive defoliator pests include leaf eating caterpillar, Noorda blitealis Walker, bud worm, Noorda moringae Tams, hairy caterpillar, Eupterote mollifera Walker and leaf feeding beetles, leaf eating weevils like Myllocerus maculosus Desb. The leaf eating caterpillar N. blitealis causes 100 per cent defoliation and hence it is a menace for the cultivation of moringa (Kalia and Joshi, 1997 and Munj et al., 1998). The recorded hosts of this pest are entirely restricted to the plant family Moringaceae (Demuelenaere, 2001; Parrott, 2001 and Anon., 2012). Material and methods A field experiment was conducted during October to November 2013 in an established two year old drumstick (cv. Bhagya) garden at Udyanagiri campus, College of Horticulture, UHS, Bagalkot, which had enough infestation of leaf eating caterpillar to evaluate the relative efficacy of insecticides, botanicals and biopesticide. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with 11 treatments along with three replications. The details of the treatment are given in Table 1 and each plant formed a treatment unit. The treatments were randomly assigned to individual plants. The first spray was given as and when damage by leaf eating caterpillar crossed 10 per cent and subsequent two sprays were also taken on the basis of damage by the leaf eating caterpillar. The average of five branches viz., four branches from four different directions and one from the middle, was considered for assessing the bio-efficacy of different insecticides. In each branch, the number of caterpillars found feeding was assessed just before imposing treatment and after one, three, seven and fifteen day of the treatment. Similar procedure was adopted before and after second and third schedule of treatments at 15 day interval. Data thus obtained were subjected to square root transformation for the statistical analysis. Results and discussion The number of larvae of N. blitealis ranged from 2.66 to 15.67 per branch before spray but there was no significant difference among the treatment plots. Further, the observations on the number of larvae after the treatments are presented in Table 1. One day after the first spray, among the different insecticides evaluated, fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/l (0.00 larva/branch), emamectin benzoate 5 SG @ 0.25 g/l (0.67 larva/branch), thiodicarb 75 WP @ 2 g/l (0.67 larva/branch), indoxacarb 15.8 EC @ 0.3 ml/l (3.00 larvae/branch), Beauveria bassiana 1.15 SP @ 2 g/l (2.67 larvae/branch) and deltamethrin 2.8 EC @ 0.5 ml/l (5.00 larvae/branch) were significantly superior over the other treatments and untreated control (13.34 larvae/branch) and they were at par with each other. Malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/l (9.67 larvae/branch), azadirachtin 1000 ppm @ 3 ml/l (12.67 larvae/branch) and NSKE @ 5% (13.00 larvae/branch) were at par with untreated control. On the third day after first spray, emamectin benzoate 5 SG @ 0.25 g/l, fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/l, thiodicarb 75 WP @ 2 g/l, indoxacarb 15.8 EC @ 0.3 ml/l, dichlorvos 76 EC @ 0.5 ml/l, malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/l and B. bassiana 1.15 SP @ 2 g/l were at par with each other by recording the larval population of 0.34, 0.67, 1.00, 1.34, 2.34, 2.34 and 3.00 larvae per branch, respectively. The highest mean number of larvae per branch was recorded from untreated plot