~ 1637 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(5): 1637-1638 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2018; 7(5): 1637-1638 Received: 25-07-2018 Accepted: 27-08-2018 Sunitha N Department of Entomology, Agriculture College, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Pramod Katti Department of Entomology, Agriculture College, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Sujay Hurali Department of Entomology, Agriculture College, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Sushila Nadagouda Department of Entomology, Agriculture College, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Satyanarayan Rao Department of Agronomy, Agriculture College, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Correspondence Satyanarayan Rao Department of Agronomy, Agriculture College, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Evaluation of biorationals and insecticides against Spodoptera exigua (hub.) in chickpea Sunitha N, Pramod Katti, Sujay Hurali, Sushila Nadagouda and Satyanarayan Rao Abstract In recent years Spodoptera exigua (Hubner) is emerging as an important pest of chickpea, especially in South Central India where it is an economic pest of chickpea. The management of cutworm S. exigua on chickpea was under taken in detail under field condition. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of different biorationals and insecticides against S. exigua larvae at Main Agricultural Research Station, Raichur during Rabi, 2016-17. There were 10 treatments in the experiment the results revealed that the mean number of larvae per meter row length of crop was in the range of (0.51 to 4.00). Least number of larvae per meter row length was recorded in spinosad (0.51) which was on par with cypermethrin 0.57, followed by lambda cyhalothrin (1.97) which was on par with B. thuringiensis (2.04), M. anisopliae (2.10), N. rileyi (2.64). Highest mean number of larvae per one meter row length of crop was recorded in pongamia oil (4.00) followed by malathion (3.90), B. bassiana (3.09). The yield data obtained after harvest of the crop indicated the maximum yield (12.02 q ha -1 ) was recorded in spinosad followed by cypermethrin (11.53 q ha -1 ). Among biorationals N. rileyi recorded highest yield (10.05 q ha - 1 ) followed by B. thuringiensis (9.80 q ha -1 ). Keywords: Spodoptera exigua, Nomuraea rileyi, Bacillus thuringiensis, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae Introduction Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the major pulses cultivated and consumed in India. In the changing scenario, a number of insect pests which were of minor importance have attained a major status. One of such pest is Spodoptera exigua (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is emerging as an important pest of chickpea, especially in South Central India where it is an economic pest of chickpea, larvae of which feed on the vegetative and reproductive stage causing highest foliage damage (36.56 per cent) especially in Raichur district (Nagabhushana, 2011). The young larvae of S. exigua initially feed gregariously on the chickpea foliage. As the larvae grow, they become solitary and continue to feed on the foliage and produce large, irregular holes on the leaves (Sharma et al., 2007). As a leaf feeder, the cutworm consumes much more chickpea tissues than the chickpea pod borer, H. armigera, but it has not been reported as a serious pest of pods. It is noticed particularly in chickpea during vegetative stage of the crop. Looking in to the severity of the pest in recent times, there is a need to manage pest at the field level, hence, an investigation of biorationals and new insecticides were used for the management of cutworm S. exigua on chickpea. Material and methods Field experiment was laid out in the randomized complete block design with three replications at Main Agricultural Research Station, Raichur during Rabi, 2016-17. There were ten treatments in the experiment viz.,T1- Bacillus thuringiensis, T2 - Beauveria bassiana, T3 - Metarhizium anisopliae, T4- Nomuraea rileyi, T5 - Pongamia oil, T6 - spinosad 45 SC, T7 - lambda cyhalothrin 2.5 EC, T8 - cypermethrin 10 EC, T9 - malathion 25% WP and T10 – Untreated control. Chickpea cultivar A1 was used for the experimentation and was sown with a spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm and plot size of 3m x 3m. Crop was raised according to package of practices except for plant protection measures. Observations on number of larvae on three randomly selected meter row length were recorded one day before to spraying and later the population was recorded at 7 and 10 days after spraying. Second spray was done after 10 days of last observation of first spray and similar observations were recorded. Data was subjected to Duncan's Multiple Range tests. Finally, yield data was recorded and the means were compared through ANOVA at 5 % level of significance.