In this study, the efficacy of two entomopathogenic nematode species, Heterorhabditis indica and Steinernema asiaticum were evaluated against the larvae of the rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrosis medinalis and the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella. Combined inoculation of H. indica and S. asiaticum each at 75 IJs/larva resulted in faster larval mortality on C. medinalis (24.6 h) and G. mellonella (31 h). The percent larval mortality caused by H. indica alone was resulted significantly more (90% on G. mellonella and 60% on C. medinalis) than S. asiaticum (10% on G. mellonella and 40% on C. medinalis). Progeny produced by H indica and S. asiaticum was significantly more (84134 and 80458 IJs/larva respectively) on G. mellonella than they produced on C. medinalis larva (4843 and 4330 IJs/larva respectively). The combined use of entomopathogenic nematodes may offer an integrated approach to increase the efficacy of control of the rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrosis medinalis and it could be a viable component in the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) where other control measures are ineffective or cannot be imposed.

Predatory complex of phytophagous mites, their diversity, abundance, predatory potential and their role in integrated mite management (IPM) in apple orchards was studied. Two species of predatory mites viz., Amblyseius fallacis A-H and Zetzellia mali (Ewing); one species of black coccinellid beetle, Stethorus punctum Le Conte; a mirid, Chrysoperla spp. ; anthocorid bug, Orius spp; the black hunter thrip, Leptothrips mali (Fitch) and various species of spiders were recorded feeding on phytophagous mites. Predatory mites were the most abundant species. The black coccinellid beetle was the next most predominant species. Amblyseius fallacis consumed 2.0 and Stethorus punctum 12-18 European red mites per day. Population of phytophagous mites remained high in orchards heavily sprayed with insecticides adults, whereas predatory mites population was highest in orchards receiving zero insecticidal applications. Stoppage of insecticidal applications resulted in a rise of predacious mite populations, which in turn brought decline in spider mite populations.

The genus Chelonus Panzer comprises of important larval parasitoids of several lepidopteran pests. Eight species of Chelonus viz., Chelonus (Chelonus) deogiri, Chelonus (Chelonus) gastrus, Chelonus (Chelonus) dwibindus, Chelonus (Chelonus) narayani, Chelonus (Chelonus) shafeei, Chelonus (Microchelonus) notaulii, Chelonus (Chelonus) nr. indicus and Chelonus (Microchelonus) scutellatus were recovered during taxonomic survey of forests and their adjoining agro-forestry areas of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. These parasitoids are undoubtedly important as they play an effective role in balancing the ecosystem by keeping a check and control on the population of insect pests. Out of these recorded Chelonus species, some of the promising species can be utilized in biological control of key forest insect pests, after going through their further studies on biology, natural field incidence, laboratory efficacy and their mass rearing techniques.

A regular fortnightly survey has been made in Jhalana Forest Range, Jaipur, (26Ú50’and 26Ú55’North latitude and 75Ú and 75Ú50’East longitude). The collection represented 39 species belonging to 29 genera and 16 families. The Predatory spiders and prey relationship was investigated in forest ecosystem. Spiders were found feeding upon different insects in the field. Non- web builder spiders were more predatory than web- building ones. It was also found that spiders preferred soft bodied insects than the hard cuticular insects. Cyrtophora citricola was found abundantly. This species is a voracious feeder of insect pests. It was reared in the laboratory on two different insect species i.e., Drosophila melanogaster and Corcyra cephalonica larvae and the feeding potential was recorded. An adult C. citricola consumed on an average 12.2 C. cephalonica larvae and 21.4 D. melanogaster in 24 hours.

Phomopsis azadirachtae causes die-back of neem. This disease has become a major devastating disease of neem in India resulting in 100% loss of fruits. To develop an eco-friendly biocontrol strategy for the control of this pathogen five essential oils viz., eucalyptus oil, fennel oil, pepper oil, coriander oil, nutmeg oil, and two oleoresins namely, capsicum oleoresin and turmeric oleoresin were tested in vitro against this fungus. Nutmeg oil, coriander oil and turmeric oleoresin were very effective against P. azadirachtae and can be used to manage this fungus.

Toxic and antifeedant effects of the Wild Indian almond, Sterculia foetida L. seed crude extract on the two important lepidopteran pests- castor semilooper, Achaea janata L. (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) and the Asian armyworm, Spodoptera litura (Fab.) (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) on castor (Ricinus communis L.) plants were studied by leaf disc bioassay method. The acetone extract applied to the leaf disc showed toxicity to the S. litura and feeding deterrency to the A. janata. Insecticidal and feeding deterrent activities of the crude extract acted in a dose dependent manner against the test insects. At a higher dose of 2.5 mg/cm2, 3rd instar larvae of S. litura died within 24h of treatment. The treated larvae were dehydrated and shrunken before death. Lower doses (0.5mg/cm2) also exhibited toxic effects to S. litura but with time delayed process. However, the same compound has produced 100 % feeding deterrent activity to A. janata at 4.0 mg/cm2. At lower doses employed, i.e. 2.0 mg/cm2 a moderate percentage (20 %) of feeding deterrent action was found after 24h treatment. It is interesting to find that the seed extract of S. foetida acted as insecticide to S. litura and as an antifeedant to the semilooper, thus indicating the dual mode of action of the compound against the different pest larvae treated. However, a study on the mechanism of action is presumed to reveal interesting observations on the mode of action of this botanical pesticide.

The powdered leaves, stem and roots of Andrographis paniculata Nees adversely affected the metabolism of Parthenium hysterophorus L upto 60 DAS. It influenced plant height, leaves number and seeds per plant. The total sugars and lipid contents were decreased in leaves, stem and roots of Pathenium hysterophorus L supplied with Andrographis paniculata Nees residues. While total chlorophylls, polyphenols, total aminoacids and protein contents were greatly reduced as compared to control. The residues of Pathenium hysterophorus L may be used as a potent bioherbicide.

Laboratory studies were conducted to study the effect of twenty plant powders (2 per cent) against rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae L (Colepotera: Curculionidae) infesting paddy grains. Among them Vitex negundo L. (Verbenaceae) was found to be significantly the best compared to other treatments. At two days after the treatment highest mortality was registered in Nelumbium speciosum Wild (Verbenaceae) (59.9%) followed by Alpinia officinarum Hance (Zingiberaceae) (49.9%), Azadirachta indica A.Juss (42.2%) and by Glorisa superpa L. (Liliaceae) (30.8%). At 7 days after the treatment, 99.1 per cent mortality was recorded in V. negundo followed by A. officinarum (96.6%), N. speciosum (94.4%) and in untreated control, 46.6 per cent mortality was observed. In another experiment, minimum adult emergence was registered in A. indica (18.00), A. officinarum (18.00), G. superpa (20.00), when compared to 98.00 adult weevils in untreated control. At 45th day after treatment grain weight loss was minimum (10.58%) in A. indica compared to untreated control (39.21%). At 60th days after treatment grain weight loss was minimum (13.01%) in A. indica compared to untreated control (49.22 %). At 90th day after treatment lowest grain weight loss was observed in A. indica (18.55%) and highest grain weight loss was seen in C. halicacabum (40.80%).

Banana pseudostem weevil, Odoiporus longicollis (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an important pest of banana (Musa spp.) plants causing heavy yield reductions throughout the world. Farmers mainly depend upon the synthetic insecticides to manage this pest, but it was more expensive and caused many problems to human being and domestic animals and also to our environment. The present investigation was carried out to study the olfactory responses of the pseudostem weevil O. longicollis against the decayed pseudostem and its extract under laboratory conditions. Banana pseudostem were allowed to decay for 1, 3, 5 and 7 days and used for the experiment. Results revealed that both 7 days decayed pseudostem (53.35%) and its extract (75.0%) has more attractant property when compared to other experimental decayed pseudostem and its extracts. The results suggest that decayed pseudostem based attractant can be used as the trapping agent for the management of O. longicollis.

Insect pests have remarkable capacity to develop resistance to insecticides. More than 600 species of plant feeding insect pests have developed resistance to insecticides. Management of insecticides resistance offers great promise as a complementary extension of integrated pest management (IPM). Insecticide resistance management (IRM) attempts to prevent or delay the development of resistance. A revival of interest in the use of microbial agents, especially entomopathogenic fungi in combination with sublethal doses of insecticide is increasing in insecticide resistance management. Integration of selected strain entomopathogenic fungi with selective insecticides can improve the control efficiency, besides decrease the amount of insecticides required, minimize the risks of environmental contamination and delay the expression of insecticide resistance in insect pests. Co-application of fungi like Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, Nomuraea rileyi, Paecilomyces spp., Lecanicillium (=Verticillium) lecanii and Hirsutella thompsonii with suitable sublethal concentration of selective insecticide as two-in-one tank mix have been successfully employed against various insect pests to reduce the selection pressure insecticides and to avoid concurrent resistance risks in target pests. Majority of mechanisms of resistance occur through induction of enzymes especially mono-oxygenases and to some extent the esterases. Entomopathogenic fungi have ability to induce high degree of susceptibility to insecticides in target pests by suppressing enzyme activities and predispose them for fungal infection. This review outlines the current state of knowledge on the development of insecticide resistance in insect pests and discusses strategies for manipulation of certain important fungal entomopathogens as potential microbial tool in the insecticide resistance management programme for sustainable pest management systems.

Investigations were carried out to assess the efficacy of crude protein of some of Bacillus thuringiensis isolates against lepidopteran pest viz., cabbage leaf webber (CLW) Crocidolmia binotalis Zel. mortality. The native isolate 1526B/b recorded highly virulent (LC50 = 682.420 ppm) where as M-126 recorded lowest virulent (LC50 = 6572.822 ppm). To identify the spectrum of insecticidal genes in the native B. thuringiensis isolates, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out and the results show that none of the isolates amplified cry3, 4 and 18 genes.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) involves the use of cultural, chemical and biological agents and more recently genetic modification to limit pest incidence in crop production. The effectiveness of the biological agents is dependent on the compatibility of the living organisms with the cultural and chemical components as well as other living organisms used in the programme. In this paper the pathogenicity of four isolates (ARSEF 932, ARSEF 954, IMI 152222 and IMI 299982) of the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae was tested against selected natural enemies viz., Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, Anagyrus kamali, Lysiphlebus testaceipes and Bracon thurberiphagae. Bioassays and probit analyses were used to determine the LC50 and LT50 of each fungal isolates against the natural enemies. The results of this study will be used to assist in the determination of the compatibility of M. anisopliae with the selected natural enemies when developing IPM programs in which these natural enemies are used as biological agents.

The pupae of Spodoptera litura (Fab.), (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a polyphagous pest affecting common crops in Indian subcontinent, were treated with different isolates of conidia of an entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana (SBT#11and SBT#16) under laboratory conditions. Both strains of B.bassiana were highly pathogenic causing 100% mortality in S. litura which is conidial concentration dependent. SBT#11 was more virulent with a LT50 of 5.1 and 6.0 days in laboratory for SBT#16 and SBT#11 respectively. Fungal sporulation was observed in 87 % of the insect cadaver in the treated group while no sporulation was observed in the control. This study indicates that dry conidia of both isolates are pathogenic to S. litura and could be used as potential biological control agents for the tested insect

Synthesis and stabilization of water dispersed silver nanoparticles was achieved by a simple one step procedure using N-methyl-N’-(5-indol-yl-pentyl)-4,4’-bipyridinium dibromide as reducing and stabilizing agent. The viologen pendant stabilized silver nanoparticles were characterized using UV-vis spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Further, viologen pendant stabilized silver nanoparticles were studied for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Klebsiella nemoniae.

Spinetoram toxicity was evaluated under laboratory conditions against primary stages and adult of onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman and green peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer. Seventy two hours after treatment, lethal concentrations LC10, LC20,LC50 and LC90 for onion thrips adults were 3.171, 5.439, 15.370 and 74.490 µg/ml, respectively, while they were 18.043, 26.782, 57.304 and 181.991 µg/ml for larvae. Under the same conditions, they were 2.993, 4.882, 12.520 and 52.368 µg/ml for peach aphid adults and 5.431, 8.371, 19.264 and 68.335 µg/ml for nymphs, respectively. Thus, the adult stage of both insects was more susceptible to spinetoram than primary stages and the toxicity slope was steepest for adults and flattest for primary stages. Field bioassays were also carried out under a greenhouse conditions and apricot trees. Spinetoram was sprayed at the rates of 37.5, 75, 150, 300 and 400 µg/ml and these doses caused reduction of infestations of both insects.