Bio-efficacy of liquid bio-pesticides against major insect pests in Citrus nursery under Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

The field experiment on bioefficacy of biopesticides for the management of three major insect pests of citrus nursery viz., citrus butterfly, leaf miner and whitefly was carried out on rough lemon seedlings at College of Horticulture and Forestry, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh during 2022-23. The highest efficacy against eitrus butterfly caterpillar was observed in Bacillus thuringiensis after 4th spray at 7 and 14 days after spraying (DAS) in both parameters of population (0.80 and 0.66/plant) and defoliation percentage (3.00% and 3.90%), respectively. The entomopathogenic fungus Lecanicillium lecanii effectively reduced whitefly incidence to 3.10/ plant after the fourth spray at 14 days after sowing (DAS). Additionally, the botanical Azadirachtin at 1500 ppm concentration, applied at a rate of 2ml/ liter of water, significantly decreased leaf miner incidence by 11.40 percent at 7 DAS.