The Insecticidal Action of the Premix Formulation of Spinetoram and Methoxyfenozide against Non-target Insects of Pigeon Pea

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of premix formulation of spinetoram and methoxyfenozide towards predatory insects viz., coccinellids and spiders. Many insecticides have been evaluated against these pests without considering the specificity to manage these pests besides increasing residues, environment hazards and toxic to non-target organisms. An experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Virinjipuram, Vellore during 2019-20 and 2020-21 to study the bioefficacy of premix formulation of (spinetoram 6% + methoxyfenozide 30%) to gram podborer, H. armigera and spotted podborer, M. vitrata in pigeonpea and its safety to natural enemies viz., coccinellids and spiders, along with phytotoxicity studies. Analysis is performed using R 3.2.1 and Box-Cox method is applied to determine the transformation function when needed, Residual Vs fitted value plots and Q-Q plots were checked to ensure the Equal variance and normality assumptions are satisfied. There was a significant difference in the population of natural enemies among the treatments, none of the treatments were reported with zero occurrence of natural enemies which is toxic to non-target organisms and there was an increase in the population of natural enemies in treated as well as untreated plots gradually with respect to increase in the host population.