Rice varieties and planting methods can affect abundance of arthropods at rice field. This research aimed to analyze effect of planting methods and rice varieties on the abundance of arthropods inhabiting the rice canopy. Two planting methods (drum seeding and broadcast seeding) and 3 varieties (Ciherang, Inpara 4, and Inpari 22), plus 2 plots of farmer’s current practices (with and without trap barrier system) and control plot (without pre-growing herbicide application) were followed. The result of this research indicated that the least phytophagous insects and the highest predatory arthropods abundance were found at the plot of Inpari 22 variety grown using drum seeding methods. At beginning of a rice growing season, the dominant arthropods inhabiting the rice canopy were parasitoids, while throughout the rice growing season, the dominant insects were the phytophagous insects. For sustainable rice cultivation at the tidal lowland in South Sumatra, Indonesia, the recommended practice is the Inpari 22 variety grown using the seeding drum method. 

The high costs of developing new insecticide molecules combined with stringent regulatory laws for pesticide registration have encouraged more research with insecticidal compounds of plant origin. Moreover, insecticidal plant compounds may be less harmful to humans and to non-target organisms, and present new modes of action to control insect pests. Thereby, bioguided chromatographic fractionations of the ethanolic extract from flowers of Brugmansia suaveolens (Willd.) (Solanaceae) were performed in order to identify insecticidal chemical compounds able to protect stored beans against Bruchinae beetles. The chromatographic fractionations using silica column chromatography was based on results from toxicological bioassays (residual contact) using Zabrotes subfasciatus (Boheman) as a model insect. During the bioguided chromatographic fractionations, the bioactive fractions expressed their effects mainly by inhibiting the F1 progeny of Z. subfasciatus. Consequently, damages on bean grains were completely inhibited. Moreover, some fractions also killed adults of Z. subfasciatus, which demonstrated signs of hyperexcitation. The fraction BSHidAcF1-1 (150 mg Kg-1) killed 56% of adults of Z. subfasciatus, promoted egg deterrence, and drastically reduced eggadult viability.

The acute toxicity of Spinosad, NSKE, horticultural mineral oil and entomopathogens at the recommended concentration was evaluated against pomegranate sucking pests like thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, whitefly, Siphoninus phillyreae Haliday, two tailed mealy bug, Ferrisia virgata (Cockerell). The study revealed that among all treatments,spinosad 45% SC (0.0125%) were showing more mortality in thrips (53.33%), whitefly (55.55%) and mealy bugs (48.88%) followed by NSKE (5%) thrips (43.33%), whitefly (45.55%) and mealy bugs (42.22%). Azadirachtin 10000 ppm (0.02%) at 48 hours after treatment showed more percent mortality in thrips (40.83%), whitefly (41.11%) and mealy bugs (39.99%) respectively.

Shoot and fruit borer, Earias vittella (Fab.) is a commonly encountered and economically important insect pest of Bhendi. Bhendi producers typically apply botanicals as mixture with panchagavya to mitigate E.vittella populations; however, there is limited information available on the compatibility and efficacy of commonly used botanicals extract mixture with panchagavya. This study assessed five binary botanical extracts mixture with panchagavya used in vitro which included botanical extracts containing panchagavya, neem leaf extract per cent, Prosophis leaf extract 5%, Calotropis leaf extract per cent, Pungam oil per cent and NSKE per cent. Fruit disc no-choice method was performed in a laboratory using bhendi fruit to determine the antifeedant activity and per cent mortality of botanicals extracts mixture with panchagavya agains E. vittella. The results indicated that all binary mixtures recorded visibly the highest per cent of antifeedant activity in NLE (5%) + panchagavya (3%) (65.11%) on par with NSKE (5%) (64.84%) and the highest mortality was recorded in panchagavya (3%) + NSKE (5%) (83.33%), followed by pungam oil (3%) + panchagavya 3 per cent (66.67%) and NLE (5%) + panchagavya (3%) (53.33%). The results indicated that these botanicals extracts mixture with panchagavya give good results for the management of E. vittella

Biocontrol agents can be derived from endophytes or healthy plant tissues. The entomopathogenic bacterial group derived from corn plant tissue has the potential as a biopesticide. The study aimed to obtaine entomopathogenic bacterial isolates, which can kill test insects and be safe for other living organisms. Roots of healthy corn plants collected as a source of isolates. Bacterial isolates were tested for gram test, virulence on Mirabilis jalapa flower plants, and entomopathogenic test for Spodoptera litura. The results of the study found 29 isolates, which were entomopathogenic with mortality of 35.71 - 100%. Only two isolates showed adverse reactions based on the results of the hypersensitive and hemolysis test namely isolates P1.7 and P2.1. This indicates that there were two isolates from corn root tissue, which were entomopathogenic and safe for living organisms.

Phomopsis azadirachtae is a phytopathogenic fungus that causes die-back of neem. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antifungal activity of five essential oils on the growth of Phomopsis azadirachtae isolated from die-back infected neem twigs. The poisoned food method was used to test the antifungal activity of essential oils against P. azadirachtae at 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 ppm concentrations. Except cinnamon oil all other oils tested viz., basil oil, camphor oil, lavender oil and rose oil completely inhibited the mycelial growth of the pathogen at 400 ppm concentration. At 300 ppm concentration all the five essentials oils inhibited the phytotoxin production by P. azadirachtae

In this study, we determined the in vitro antifungal activities of five plant crude extracts, namely Acorus calamus L., Coscinium fenestratum (Goetgh.) Colebr., Piper betle Linn., P. nigrum L. and P. retrofractum Vahl. Both individually and in combinations in seven different ratios and in concentrations of 10,000 and 1,000 ppm against the radial growth of Alternaria brassicicola, Colletotrichum capsici and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense. The findings indicated that the synergistic activities of the combinations were observed more in the lower concentration tested (1,000 ppm) than in the higher concentration (10,000 ppm) at different ratios. The synergistic activities of the combinations of two extracts against A. brassicicola were increased from 34.29% to 67.14% when tested at 1,000 ppm. Antagonistic effects (14.29%) were found when tested at 10,000 ppm but were not observed when tested at 1,000 ppm. At 10,000 ppm, the combined extracts different ratios displayed synergistic (74.29%) and additive activities (25.71%) against C. capsici. At 1,000 ppm, strong synergistic interactions against C. capsici were observed in all combinations. In testing effects of the combinations against F. oxysporum f.sp. cubense, we found that the combined extracts at 10,000 ppm exhibited synergistic (48.57%), additive (31.43%), in different (2.86%) and antagonistic effects (17.14%) but only synergistic and additive activities were detected when tested at 1,000 ppm. Moreover, some crude extracts had no activity (0% MGI) against the fungi tested at 1,000 ppm when tested individually but displayed synergistic effects when combined with another extract, evidenced by the percent mycelial growth inhibition of the combination mixtures. The results in this study indicate that the combination of plant extracts has promising synergistic activity against plant pathogens and that the concentration is a key factor in evaluating the effects. These results provided useful information as a guideline for further evaluation of the effects of these extracts against plant diseases in greenhouse and field studies. 

The effect of pre harvest application of bioformulations on the disease incidence of leaves, inflorescence, fruits and biometrics of mango was tested in this study. Foliar spraying of Pseudomonas fluorescens (BIB2) + Bacillus subtilis (BIL8) + chitin on 20 days before flowering, flowering stage, 20 and 60 days after flowering plus Carbendazim (0.1%) at 40 days after flowering recorded the minimum incidence of leaf anthracnose at pre flowering, flowering, fruit set and fruit maturity stages viz., 8.67, 12.33, 13.00 and 13.00 per cent, respectively. Similarly nil infection on inflorescence and fruit was recorded in above treatment. The same treatment recorded maximum number of panicle/tree (142.00), fruits/tree (748.67), fruit weight (221.76g/fruit) and fruit yield/tree (166.02 kg). P. fluorescens (BIB2) + B. subtilis (BIL8) + chitin recorded highest number of bacterial population (16.67 ×104 cfu g-1 of leaf) at 16 days after spray.

Present study was conducted to evaluate different concentrations of crude phenolic and terpenoid extracts of the leaf Carissa macrocarpa as alternatives to chemical insecticides in some biological aspects of Aphis fabae under in vitro condition. The results showed that all plant extract concentrations were effective against adult of A. fabae compared with control treatment. The mortality rates were of the adult when used 10 mg/ ml concentration of the crude phenolic and terpenoid extracts after 48 hrs. of exposure 46.4 and 52.3% Compared with 9.2 and 13.8% in control treatment respectively. Also, the crude phenolic and terpenoid extracts have affected reduced the number of birth reached 5.33 and 4.67 nymph/ Female at concentration 10 mg/ mL of the crude phenolic and terpenoid extracts Compared with12.00 and11.67 nymph/ Female in the control treatment respectively

In the current study Callosobruchus maculatus adults were exposed to essential oils of Citrus limon, Citrus aurantifolia and Piper nigrum and the contact mortality, repellency, fumigation effects and oviposition deterrent activities of each oil were determined over a 72h period. After 72h, 50% mortality of C. maculatus adults was observed for C. limon at a concentration of < 1.56 µL/mL, for C. aurantifolia at a concentration between 12.5–25.0 µL/mL and for P. nigrum the concentration causing 50% mortality was 1.56 µL/mL. All oils tested displayed some level of repellency to C. maculatus after 12h and 24h. C. aurantifolia essential oil at concentrations above 6.25µL/mLwere classified as a Class IV repellent, while P. nigrum was classified as a Class IV repellent at 25.0 and 50.0 µL/mL at 24h post application and a Class V repellent only at 50.0 µL/mL at 12h. The results of the 50% fumigant mortality (FC50) indicated that P. nigrum essential oil was the most toxic fumigant (FC50 = 0.140µL/L air) among the three oils tested. Black pepper oil also took the shortest time (FT50 = 7.71h) to cause 50% mortality to a population of C. maculatus.The anti-oviposition effects reveals that both C. limon and C. aurantifolia gave relatively low DQ values at all concentrations. At 25.0 and 50.0 µL/mL, C. aurantifolia had higher values (0.62 and 0.64 respectively). However, apart from the lowest concentration, P. nigrum essential oil consistently gave high DQ values indicating its potential in preventing egg laying on Cajanus cajan seeds. Thus, the use of these essential oils can be considered as alternatives to the use of synthetic insecticides for management of C. maculatus

The effects of eight native bacterial isolates were tested in vitro for their ability to inhibit the growth of Lasiodiplodia theobromae, the causal agent of peduncle blight of tuberose. The studies revealed that Pseudomonas fluorescens (PFC-I8) and Bacillus subtilis (BSC-I1) showed the highest inhibition of mycelial growth of (70.60%; 66.41%, respectively) L. theobromae. Both the antagonists were compatible with each other and they were tested alone and together in vivo for the control of L. theobromae. The combined application of P. fluorescens + B. subtilis (T6) through bulb treatment followed by soil and foliar application recorded minimum incidence of peduncle blight and maximum plant growth and flower yield. 

To know the influence of polymorphism of Rhynocoris marginatus (Fab.) on the biology, biological control pontential and molecular profile were recorded in the following partners : N male + N female; N male + S female, N male + NS female, NS male + NS female and S + NS female under laboratory conditions. Offspring produced by the S + NS female partners developed quickly having minimum body weight and size and egg hatching percentage, maximum relative growth rate both in first instars and adults, maximum survival rate (82.5 ± 3.50%), male biased sex ratio (0.23). In general, the predatory rate was increased when the prey deprivation period increased from 24 hrs to 72 hrs, third instars to adults. Molecular analysis studies revealed that the total free amino acid was high in N adult morphs. No unique DNA sequence was observed among the morphs of R. marginatus. Among the polymorphic R. marginatus, N male + N female; N male + S female, N male + NS female, NS male + NS female and S + NS, approaching time was also decreased in the latter instars and adult, the biological control potential is highly observed in 96 hrs starved N+N adults showed minimum approaching time, handling time, and high predatory rate. Among the experimental morphs the weight gain was maximum in N+N and minimum weight gain was observed among the morphs of SNS. Minimum total nymphal developmental period, least body weight, survival rate were recorded among the offsprings produced by S+NS, NS+NS and N+NS partners. 

The present studies were undertaken to investigate the effect of bioprotectant, plant based chemical like Salicylic acid and silicon based nutrient Potassium silicate against the anthracnose or ripe fruit rot of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) incited by Colletotrichum capsici (Sydow.) Butler and Bisby in chilli var. K2. The chilli anthracnose disease susceptible variety Kovilpatti-2 (K2) grown in pots and field trial were used for the study. The plants were given artificial inoculation by spraying the spore suspensions after pinpricking the fruits with adequate spore load at 90-days after transplanting for fruit rot incidence assessment. The crop was maintained in a poly house with frequent spraying of water to provide adequate moisture and relative humidity to enable successful infection by the pathogen. Three replications for each treatment and a control were maintained. The fungicide mancozeb @ 0.25 per cent was used for comparison and the standard agronomic practices as recommended by the State Agricultural Department were followed. The plant activator and silicon-based nutrient were sprayed as individual as well as combined approach manner. Seed treatment with Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 10 g/kg of seeds in all the treatments except comparison fungicide and control treatments. Among the various treatments, seed treatment with Bio protectant, foliar application of Salicylic acid @ 50 ppm on 40 days after transplanting (40 DAT) and foliar application of Potassium silicate @ 3 % on 60 DAT recorded the minimum disease incidence and increased fruit length, fruit weight, fruit per plant, branches per plant, plant height and germination percentage when compared to control and Comparison fungicide Mancozeb. The activity of plant defense enzymes like Peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase and Phenylalanine ammonia lyase increased up to 5th day of sampling in plants treated with Bio-protectant, resistance inducing chemical along with potassium silicate and challenged inoculated with the test pathogen. Also, the same treatment significantly decreased the disease severity and increased the growth and yield parameters when compared to control and comparison fungicide under the field trials.

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) proved to be efficient control agents against thrips under soil stages. However, few studies were reported on foliar application of EPNs against the feeding stages which cause the initial infestation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of three formulated parasitic nematodes, two native and an adapted exotic species, against the onion thrips, Thrips tabaci L., under green house conditions in aquaculture. The nematode species were in vivo produced using larvae of the greater wax moth. Nematodes were formulated using mixed polymer based on calcium alginate and their viability was tested before each application. The experiment was done inside the greenhouse on onion plants heavily infested with onion thrips, T. tabasi. Population density of the pest was estimated before and after spraying with the tested bioformulated EPNs. EPNs species caused significantly higher mortality than control treatment in different developmental stages of T. tabaci. In general the three formulated nematodes, BA1, BA2 and OBIII had significantly better shelf-lives than the control. Data showed that S. carpocapsae BA2, was the most commonly applied species for control of foliar pests. They are ideal candidates for pest insects that are encountered on the surface soil when they descend from foliage. The market of EPNs-based biopesticides has faced great success in relation to few marketing failures during the past two decades. Due to the rapid increase in EPNs production technology, their prices become more compatible to other insect control strategies. Therefore, the development of simple; cheap and innovative formulations should not only target increasing EPNs performance but also enhancing storage ability and application methods