Massive seasonal invasion of the litter dwelling beetle, Luprops tristis (Fabricius, 1801) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Lupropini), into the residential buildings and their prolonged stay in a state of dormancy during the rainy season has been a serious nuisance in the rubber plantation belts of Kerala for the last three decades. The deterring defensive secretion of the beetles is the prime reason for the non-predation by any of the vertebrate or non vertebrate predators present in the breeding habitat or in the aggregation shelters. Recent efforts revealed that the weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius, 1775) could be a potential bio-control agent of Luprops beetles. However, the possibility of its failure as a bio-control agent remains as repeated feeding on a prey item with repelling defensive gland secretion leading to development of predator reluctance and prey rejection. The present work ascertained the effect of repeated feeding of weaver ants on Luprops and the results indicate that repeated feeding did not lead to predator reluctance and point out the potential of weaver ants as an effective bio-control agent against Luprops. Low abundance of weaver ants in rubber plantations in contrast to their higher incidence in the scarce native trees in rubber plantation belts indicates that rubber tree is not a preferred host plant for weaver ants. Further, the possibility of regular feeding on Luprops that are readily available in rubber plantations, leads to questions about prey suitability and the effects on the rates of development, reproduction or survival of weaver ants which calls for post-evaluation studies in field conditions after the preliminary field trials.

The pentatomid bug, Canthecona furcellata Wolff. (Hemiptera : Pentatomidae) is predator of many lepidopterous pests. The nymphal period of C. furcellata was 14.1 days and the adult longevity of male and female were 16.8 and 24.7 days respectively. The nymphal period and adult longevity of Canthecona furcellata is long. So they reduce the population of Clostera fulgurita walk (Lepidoptera : Notodontidae) to its regular presence in poplar nurseries and plantations. The fecundity of female bug of C. furcellata with on an average is 317.6 eggs per female. The egg laying capacity of its bug is also good for minimizing the population of C. fulgurita. The size of eggs, pre-copulation, copulation period, duration of fecundity and sex ratio were also studied.

The relative importance of three types of prey viz. termites (Odontotermes obesus Rambur), larvae of rice moth (Corcyra cephalonica Stainton) and tobacco caterpillar (Spodoptera litura Fabricius) in mass rearing, conservation and augmentation of the biological control agent, Endochus inornatus Stal has been analyzed under laboratory conditions for two generations. S. litura was found to be the most suitable prey among all the three prey types for the mass rearing of this biocontrol agent.

Larvicidal and pupicidal effects of Dryopteris filix-mas root and rhizome’s ethanolic extract were studied against the third instar larvae of Corcyra cephalonica (Staint.). D. filix-mas extract 0.20% (v/w), caused 100% larval mortality. The plant extracts reduce pupation per cent, pupal death and adult emergence indicating absolute toxicity to the pest. However, further detailed studies are essential under pots, controlled-field cage and field studies.

The study evaluates the effect of feeding the third instar larvae of the coconut rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros L.(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) with leaf powders of Adathoda vasica (Acanthaceae) and Glyricidia maculata (Leguminosae).Control larvae were fed on sterilized and powdered cow dung while the experimental larvae were fed on a mixture of cow dung and leaf powder. Concentration of the leaf powder in the mixture was 1%. Both plants induced mortality in the larvae, prepupae, pupae and adults. Higher rate of mortality of the larvae and prepupae was induced by G.maculata while higher pupal and adult mortality rate was noticed in A.vasica fed group. Adults emerged from the larvae fed on the experimental diets revealed morphological deformities. Deformities were greater in the Glyricidia fed group. Malformations were more in the wings and legs. Exoskeletal deformities, distorted and prolapsed wings, vertically split elytra, melanization of the cuticle and wings and oozing out of haemolymph are the major deformities observed in the study. Fat body and ovarioles of a few experimental female beetles showed some abnormalities. Both plants are promising for the control of O. rhinoceros by causing mortality, disrupting development and also by causing deformities. The deformities observed in the study can result in abnormalities in vital activities like walking, flying and reproduction. The results direct towards the potential of the experimental diets to induce developmental deformities, metabolic abnormalities and reproductive aberrations in O.rhinoceros

Toxicity of the two biorational insecticides, spinosad and buprofezin and a mixture of the two was tested against the fourth instar larvae of the cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval). The results showed that spinosad was more effective on the fourth instar larvae than buprofezin. The LC50 values for spinosad and buprofezin were 70.7 and 278.2 ppm, respectively. When spinosad was mixed with buprofezin, the percent of mortality increased; it was 85 %, compared with 63.3% in spinosad and 43.3% in buprofezin treatment. This means that the biorational insecticides spinosad and buprofezin can be used in a combination and cause good results with the cotton leafworm. This result suggested that the mixture of spinosad and buprofezin was more active than spinosad or buprofezin alone in all concentrations used. The larval duration, pupal period and adult longevity were not affected by all tested treatments. The number of eggs laid per female and percent of hatchability were affected in buprofezin and spinosad buprofezin in combination treatments compared with that in control. These results suggest that the combination of lethal effects of spinosad and buprofezin might affect pest population dynamics significantly by decreasing its survival and reproduction and by delaying its development.

Adult Edessa meditabunda were found to be naturally infected by the entomopathogenic fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus (ARSEF 10225) for the first time in Trinidad in the field and consequently laboratory experiments were conducted to determine its efficacy. Mean in vitro radial colony growth for P. lilacinus was the fastest at 200C and slowest at 350C. The LC50 for adult E. meditabunda using P. lilacinus was determined as 6.32 x 106 spores/ml. At this concentration, 50% mortality (ie.LT50) of E. meditabunda was achieved in 1.95 days. Haemolymph of adult E. meditabunda was extracted and used in the identification of proteins by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and the total protein content by the Lowry’s method. There were a total of four protein bands present in the haemolymph of control adults, all of which had molecular weights more than 138.7 kDa. There was gradual increase in the number of bands from day 1-3 post infection by P. lilacinus. Two new protein bands (104.7 kDa and 49.5 kDa) appeared on Day 3 post infection. The total haemolymph protein concentration was significantly higher in the control compared to all three days post infection.

Various agricultural products like rice, sorghum and wheat and agrowastes namely refuse raw potatoes and refuse raw bananas were evaluated for mass scale cultivation of entomopathogenic fungus Nomuraea rileyi. Among the grains, rice (5.53 x 107 spore/g) supported the maximum spore production of fungus followed by refuse raw bananas (4.2 x 107 spores/g) and sorghum (4.01 x 107 spores/g) on the 11th day after inoculation of spore suspension. whereas, wheat (3.55 x 107 spores/g) and refuse potato chips (3.1 x 107 spores/g) supported less spore load than other substrates on the 11th day and on the 15th day after inoculation of spore suspension respectively. According to the references based on N. rileyi, use of raw banana as dry chips form for cultivation of fungus was carried out for the first time in this study. This study suggests alternative nutrient sources for mass scale cultivation of fungus and that the biotechnological potential of agro refuses could be employed in biopesticide development.

Use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can play important roles in developing sustainable systems for crop production. In search for efficient PGPR strains with multiple activities, we prepared eight bioformulations (BF) using two isolates of Pseudomonas fluorescens (B1) and Bacillus coagulans (B2) which were isolated from rhizospheric soil and plant roots in Iranian sugar beet fields. Carriers included talc and bentonite powders as inorganic carriers and peat and rice bran as organic carriers for increasing stability in interaction between associated PGPR and sugar beet plants. The efficacy of prepared bioformulations were then evaluated on promoting sugar beet seedlings growth characteristics including seedling height, seedling dry weight, seedling dry weight, root length and root weight, 60 days after sowing. Results indicated that above-mentioned growth characteristics except root length were significantly increased by all test BF but with different ratio. However, in the case of root length, 5 out of 8 BF (Peat-b1, Talc-b1, Talc-b2, R.B.-b1 and R.B.-b2) showed significant effectiveness in increasing seedling root length. The overall results of this study show that it may be possible to use PGPR based BF for promoting the health and growth of sugar beet.

An attempt is made to control the white grub Holotrichia serrata using entomopathogenic fungi at field level for the first time in India in sugarcane crop using different formulations of the microbial insecticide Metarhizium anisopliae. Three formulations of the microbial insecticide M. anisopliae via Talc, Lignite and Liquid formulations were used. Field trials were conducted in Vellore Co-operative Sugar mill with five treatments and three replications in Randomized Block Design. Pretreatment count was taken in 1 m2 area. The treatments of the formulations i.e. talc, lignite and liquid were mixed well with decomposed Farm Yard Manure and applied near the root zone of the cane at 5-10 cm depth and irrigated immediately after application. Two applications were made at 15 days interval. Grub mortality was assessed after 15 days after each application .The data were subjected to analysis of variance. Results on growth and yield parameters were recorded. The liquid formulation of the biopesticide M.anisopliae was found to be efficient for the control of sugarcane white grub H.serrata.

Field experiments were conducted on sugarcane for white grub management using Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai District and Kuchanoor village in Theni District during 2010-2011. Application of M. anisopliae against sugarcane white grub Holotrichia serrata (Blanch) at 4 x1 09 conidia ha-1 was found effective next to chlorpyriphos and registered 92% reduction in grub population on 60th DAT. The highest cane yield was recorded when chlorpyriphos was applied @ 3lit ha1 (110.5t ha-1), followed by M. anisopliae @ 4x109 conidia ha-1 (100.6t ha-1). However, incremental benefit cost ratio (IBCR) was high with higher doses of M. anisopliae (7.58) followed by drenching of chlorpyriphos (6.09).

Laboratory bioassay was carried with five different concentrations of Beauveria bassiana (1x104 to 1x 108 ml-1) against the pulse beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus. Stored seeds were severely attacked by the pulse beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus, a coleopteran pest.At the larval stage, it penetrated into stored seeds and fed on cotyledons. Entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana caused maximum oviposition reduction and 100% adult mortality was obtained at higher concentrations. Mortality declined with the decrease in concentrations. At higher concentrations, oviposition reduction was 60.58%, and adult mortality was 99.44% at 92h respectively. It showed higher virulence compared to other isolates.At lower concentrations, oviposition reduction was 23.82% and adult mortality was 81.93% at 92 h respectively.

Three botanical formulations based on neem oil and Pongamia oil viz., No 60 EC(C) No 60 EC (A) and NOPO 60EC (C) were tried against root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita on tomato, chilli and brinjal. The formulations were tried as seed treatment and seedling root dip @ 2ml / lit. All the three formulations were found superior to control. Among the formulations No 60 EC (C) was significantly superior to the other two formulations in the reduction of nematode population 48.6, 51.7 and 39.6 per cent over control on tomato, chilli and brinjal respectively. The yield increase over control in the crops were 52.6, 47.3 and 41.7 per cent respectively. The treatment has recorded the least root knot indices of 2.0 in the three crops tested as against 5.0 in the untreated control. Use of botanical formulation is easy to apply is of low cost and it is an environmentally safer method of nematode management.

Organic nematicides such as neem cake, press mud, groundnut oil cake, neem mark and cotton seed oil and inorganic nematicides such as carbofuron, phorate and aldicarb have been found to have inhibitory effect against the soil nematodes including plant parasitic nematodes of sugarcane crop. The percent reductions of nematode population with the organic and chemical nematicides were studied. Among the organic amendments neem cake recorded the maximum reduction of nematode population density of 89.36 per cent and the cotton seed oil cake the minimum 60.84 per cent compared with control plots. Among the chemical nematicides, carbofuron reduced the population density of nematodes to the maximum, i.e. being 100 percent followed by phorate while aldicarb recorded the minimum compared to the population density of control.

An experiment was conducted on a nine - year old citrus, Citrus limonia L. garden affected with citrus nematode Tylenchulus semipenetrans heavily to evaluate the biocontrol potential of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Trichoderma viride, T. harzianum and Pochonia chlamydosporia in the management of citrus nematode. The above bioagents were inoculated in talc formulation at a depth of 20-30 cm and 120 cm away from the trunk of the tree and compared with carbofuran 3G (100g/tree) as chemical check and untreated control. Observations were made on citrus nematode population and fruit yield one year after the delivery of the above test bioagents. The observations revealed that all the bioagents are effective to reduce the citrus nematode population and to increase the fruit yield of Citrus limonia L. Among them the use of P. fluorescens available commercially as talc formulation @ 20g/tree is most effective to reduce T. semipenetrans population (71.49 %) and to increase the fruit yield three fold compared to untreated control.

In vegetables and flower crops, greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) is an important pest which damages the crop drastically. Development of alternative methods for the management of agriculturally important pests is needed due to the adverse effect of pesticides to human health and environment. The main objective of the present study is to test the efficacy of yellow sticky traps and yellow charts coated with castor oil by which manages the pest effectively. The number of whitefly adults attracted towards yellow sticky trap was compared with conventional method ie, tieing of yellow charts coated with castor oil. The experimental results revealed that irrespective of the varieties, yellow chart coated with castor oil caught whiteflies more than the yellow sticky trap. Marginal benefit cost ratio (MBCR) was also higher in the treatment of yellow charts coated with castor oil whereas MBCR of yellow sticky traps was only 0.88.

Studies on population dynamics of hibiscus mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley in relation to biotic factors were carried on randomly selected hibiscus plants at College Farm, N. M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat) during 2007-08. Under field condition the observation recorded at fortnightly interval showed that the population of P. solenopsis on hibiscus was observed throughout the year with its peak activity from first fortnight of October to first fortnight of December. The highest population of mealybug per plant was found in first fortnight of November (93.68), exhibited the peak activity of mealybug population. During the course of investigation, the nymph and adult female was found to be preyed by two predators Spalgis epius (Westwood) and Scymnus coccivora (Aiyar). The populations of both predators were directly related to the population of host, P. solenopsis and showed significant positive relationship with mealybug population.

Chlorpyrifos, lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, spinosad and buprofezin were tested against the second instar larvae and adults (except buprofezin) of the green lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea. The results showed that chlorpyrifos was more toxic to second instar larvae than lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, spinosad and buprofezin with LC50 values of 1.78, 8.81, 26.9, 294.36 and 997.05 ppm respectively. However, lambda-cyhalothrin was highly toxic to the adult of C. carnea compared to the other pesticides. The LC50 of lambda-cyhalothrin was 0.04 ppm. Buprofezin and Spinosad were the least toxic to second instar larvae and adults of C. carnea respectively. According to the percents of mortality, these pesticide toxicity was classified into harmful pesticide (chlorpyrifos), moderately harmful (lambda-cyhalothrin and cypermethrin), slightly harmful pesticide (spinosad) and harmless pesticides (buprofezin). While, with the adults treated, these pesticides classified into two groups such as moderately harmful (lambda-cyhalothrin, chlorpyrifos and cypermethrin) and less harmful (spinosad) pesticides. These results confirmed that the adult of C. carnea was more susceptible to the previous pesticides than second instar larvae. Buprofezin and spinosad are more suitable pesticides for integrated pest management programs and can be used upon the peak of C. carnea population density.

Comparative efficacy of user friendly water jetting technique by diverting a portion of irrigation water through a garden hose and chemical measures [0.1 % dichlorvos (76EC) / 0.05% dimethoate (30 EC)] practised by farmers against the major sucking pests of mulberry was studied. Two treatments with water jetting at 15 and 25 days after pruning (DAP) of mulberry plants was more effective in control of papaya mealybug than all concurrent chemical measures viz. two sprays of dichlorvos, dichlorvos followed by dimethoate, dimethoate followed by dichlorvos and two sprays of dimethoate. Against spiralling whitefly and jassid water jetting exhibited at par results with two sprays of dimethoate and dimethoate followed by dichlorvos but superior to the rest of the chemical measures. But against thrips, it was recorded lower efficacy than two sprays of dimethoate and dimethoate followed by dichlorvos, at par with dichlorvos followed by dimethoate and better than two spray of dichlorvos. Water jetting in mulberry garden showed slight or no deleterious effect on predatory coccinellids and spiders whereas there was drastic reduction in their population on chemical measures. However, the additional treatment of water jetting a third time at 35 DAP supported to reduce the population of all sucking pests in a greater extent constantly till 45 DAP and the highest population of natural enemies in the water jetted plots also worked to keep the pest population reduced which resulted in higher leaf yield and economy than all chemical measures.