Efficacy of Biopesticides against Whitefly, (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius) on Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] in Northern Madhya Pradesh, India

An experiment was conducted in the field, Department of Entomology, RVSKVV, College of Agriculture, Gwalior (M.P.) in Kharif- 2018 and 2019.Efficacy of biopesticides against whitefly on okra. Experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with eight treatments. Biopesticides used in the experiments were Beauveria bassiana @ 0.5 kg/ha, Verticillium lecanii@ 1.0 kg/ha, Neem oil 5% @ 2.5 litre, Neem leaf extract 5% @ 25 kg/ha, NSKE 5% @ 25 kg/ha, Garlic clove extract 5% @ 25 kg/ha and Panchgavya 3% @15 litre/ha. All the biopesticides treatments were found significantly effective in reducing the population of whitefly over control untreated plots (11.73 whiteflies/six leaves). Among the biopesticides treatments, NSKE 5% (4.67 whiteflies/six leaves)found most effective in reducing the whitefly population followed by neem oil 5%(4.88 whiteflies/six leaves), V. lecanii (5.20 whiteflies/six leaves), neem leaf extract 5% (5.49 whiteflies/six leaves) and garlic clove extract 5% (5.68 whiteflies/six leaves). Whereas, panchgavya 3% (8.59 whiteflies/six leaves) was found least effective in both the years. Data computed on per cent reduction in whitefly population indicate that 26.8 to 60.2% population may be reduced by spraying of different biopesticides. The highest fruit yield (119.56 q/ha) was recorded in NSKE 5% followed by B. bassiana and neem oil 5%. Whereas, minimum fruit yield was recorded in panchgavya 3% in both the years. The highest net profit (27,128 Rs/ha) was obtained from the plots treated with B. bassiana followed by NSKE 5% (25,938 Rs/ha) and maximum benefit ratio in the B. bassiana (1:14.13) followed by V. lecanii (1:8.36), NSKE 5% (1:8:11) and garlic clove extract 5% (1:6.78).