DEVELOPMENT OF BIORATIONAL-BASED INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT PACKAGE AGAINST POD BORER, HELICOVERPA ARMIGERA HUBNER INFESTING CHICKPEA

ABSTRACT Chickpea, (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important pulse crop world-wide. There are many constraints in the production of the crop, of which pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera Hubner is the notorious one which causes both quantitative and qualitative loss. Therefore, an experiment was conducted during rabi 2012-13 to evaluate different biorational based IPM packages viz., IPM package 1 (P1) comprising pheromone trapping of H. armigera along with sequential release of biocontrol agents (Trichograma evanescens @ gm/ha/week + Bracon hebetor @ 1 jar (1000-1200 adults)/ha/week) and spraying of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) @ 0.4g/ litre of water; IPM package 2 (P2) consists of pheromone trapping in addition to sequential release of bio-control agents and spraying of Helicoverpa nuclear polyhedrosis virus (HNPV) @ 0.1g/litre of water against this pest attacking chickpea. Results indicate that the IPM package (P2) revealed the best performance reducing 68.20% pod damage over control and provided significantly the highest yield (1832.20kg/ha). Consequently, the highest benefit cost ratio (BCR) (2.11) was also recorded from this package. Hence, biocontrol agent release along with installation of sex pheromone traps and spraying of HNPV may be recommended for effective management of pod borer attacking chickpea.