25-08-2017, 09:32 PM
Non target effect of fungicides on Spodoptera litura
ABSTRACT
Tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) is a widely distributed pest in South-East Asia, feeding on 63 plant species belonging to 22 families. It is a serious pest of soybean, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and vegetables. Its ability to migrate over large distance in the adult stage has resulted it in becoming a pest of many agricultural crops distributed throughout India including Jammu and Kashmir. Heavy use of synthetic organic insecticides to control this pest resulted in development of resistance against insecticides of different groups. Therefore, alternative control measures should be searched out for this noxious pest. With this background, the present research was undertaken to explore the effect of fungicides on S. litura for developing eco-friendly pest management strategy. Five fungicides viz. mancozeb, propaconazole, carbendazim, azoxystrobin and ridomil MZ were evaluated in the laboratory and result showed that these fungicides are detrimental to S. Litura. 100% larval motility was observed within three days at higher doses in case of propaconazole followed by carbendazim and mancozeb. Azoxystrobin and ridomil MZ failed to suppress the larval population of S. litura, however, these chemicals showed little adverse effect on the biology of S. litura. This adverse effect of fungicides should be kept in mind while formulating IPM for this pest.