Bio-efficacy of Chemical Insecticides against Major Insect Pests of Mustard Applied through Seed Treatment

Abstract

Seed treatment application of chemical insecticides is getting popularity in the management of insect-pest population. The present investigation was conducted to study the bio-efficacy of different chemical insecticides, widely used against major insect-pest of mustard crop. A mustard variety Bio-902 was sown in twenty-seven plots of 2× 2 m2 at the agronomy farm of Sri Karan Narendra College of Agriculture, Jobner, India during the Rabi season of 2020-21. A total of nine treatments including an untreated control group with three replications were investigated in a randomized block design (RBD). The data was recorded for aphid population and seed yield in each treatment. The treatments including Imidacloprid 40% + Fipronil 40% (10 g/kg seed) was found significantly effective followed by Imidacloprid (10 g/kg seed), Clothianidin (10 g/kg seed), Thiamethoxam (10 g/kg seed), Imidacloprid 40% + Fipronil 40% (5 g/kg seed), Imidacloprid (5 g/kg seed), Clothianidin (5 g/kg seed) and Thiamethoxam (5 g/kg seed). The ranking of treatments based on seed yield in mustard was found to be similar to the trend observed in the aphid population for different treatments. Seed treatment helps protect the seed and emerging plant from insects until they become more resilient. Method of seed treatment and doses of pesticides to be used in seed treatment are deciding factor for bio efficacy of pesticides.