~ 348 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(2): 348-351 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2018; 6(2): 348-351 © 2018 JEZS Received: 24-01-2018 Accepted: 27-02-2018 Muhammad Iqbal Shahid ADA (PP) Sahiwal, Pakishtan Muhammad Ishfaq DDA (PP) Sahiwal, Paskistan Muhammad Ayub ADA (PP) Okara, Paskistan Faisal Hafeez Entomological Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan Correspondence Faisal Hafeez Entomological Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan Effectiveness of pesticides against maize stem borer in sahiwal (Punjab, Pakistan) Muhammad Iqbal Shahid, Muhammad Ishfaq, Muhammad Ayub and Faisal Hafeez Abstract Efficacy of Fipronil 0.3G, Caorbofuran 3G and Cartal 10G @ 19.76, 19.76 and 4.94 kg/ha, respectively, were tested against Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) on maize genotype 6654 in the farmer’s field district Sahiwal during 2015 (Altitude 174-m, latitude 30 o 39ʹ 51.84ʹʹ N Longitude 73 o 06ʹ 29.88ʹʹ E). All the insecticides showed non-significant influence with one another regarding percent reduction in damage caused by the insect at both applications in almost all the post treatment intervals except after 72 hours at the first application and after 7-days at 2 nd application. The percent reduction in plant infestation was significantly the highest (87.75%) in Cartal treated plots compared with 86.43 and 86.32 percent reduction in Fipronil and Carbofuran, respectively after 7-days at 2 nd application whereas the lowest damage reduction (50.0%) was found in Fipronil followed by Cartal (51.66%) and Carbofuran (53.33%). Fipronil treated plots showed a significantly maximum grain yield (360 kg/plot) followed by Cartal (320 kg/plot) and Carbofuran (280 kg/plot). Fipronil proved to be the best resulted in the maximum CBR i.e., 1:24 as compared to 1:15 and 1:13 in Carbofuran and Cartal, respectively. Keywords: Chilo partellus, insecticides, maize, Sahiwal Introduction Among the various factors, insect pests are the main cause of low yield. Of which, Maize borer (Chilo partellus Swinhoe) is considered to be the most destructive pest causing losses up to 75 percent [1] . Infestation at the seedling stage may cause total failure of the crop [2, 3, 4] . Yield losses of 24-75% have been reported by the attack of this pest alone [5, 6 7] . Farid et al. reported 10 – 50% damage by maize stem borer in Peshawar valley [8] . In Africa, loss caused by stem borers was 80% for maize [9] . Chouraddi and Mallapur, reported 2.47% and 1.2% yield losses per larva during kharif and rabi seasons, respectively [10] . The loss incurred by C. partellus were minimized by applying insecticides. Studies conducted in the past revealed that Carbofuran was superior in controlling the pest compared with Methamidaphos and Ccypermethin [11] . Similarly Kakar et al. compared Carbofuran @ 19.76 kg/ha with Basudin 10G (diazinon) @ 19.75 kg/ha, Temik 10G, (aldicarb) @17.75 kg/ha, and Padan 4G (cartap) @ 22.23 kg/ha and reported that maximum net benefit was obtained in Carbofuran application (Rs.4851.77) followed Padan (Rs.3636.17), Temik (3431.17) and Basudin (Rs.2214.97) [12] . Kumar and Alam reported that the highest benefit: cost ratio (13.96:1) was evinced in insecticidal treatment flubendiamide 480 SC @ 0.2 ml/l in sequence with Carbofuran 3G @ 7 kg/ha [13] . They further reported that all the treatments were found significantly superior to untreated control in reducing the maize stem borer infestation and increasing the yield. Kumar and Kumar found that all the treatments were significantly superior over control among all the treatments [14] . Carbofuran recorded highest reduction of C. partellus population i.e. (7.70%) followed by Cypermethrin (9.86%) and Fipronil (13.38%), Indoxacarb (14.44%), Cartap (15.37%), Profenophos (17.63%) and Imidacloprid (19.47%). The further reported that the best and most economical treatment was Carbofuran (1:1.91), followed by Cypermethrin (1:1.88), Fipronil (1:1.70), Indoxacarb (1:1.59), Cartap (1:1.41), Profenophos (1:1.32), Imidacloprid (1:1.20) as compared to Control (1:1.11). Keeping in view the above evidences the Carbofuran is being often used by the farmers in the field on maize crop for a long period in Pakistan as well as abroad. This insecticide is one of the most toxic Carbamate and banned in Canada and European Union (en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/carbofuran).