Evaluation of Brigade-BL (Beauveria bassiana- entomopathogenic fungi) against leaf folder/roller (Hedylepta indicata) in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is one of the most important oilseed legumes in the world as well as in India, which is attacked byseveral insects, particularly the leaf folder (Hedylepha indicata) causes significant yield losses. Hence, a field bio-efficacy of Brigade-BL (Beauveria bassiana) an entomopathogenic fungi was evaluated against leaf folder of soybean at ARI (MACS) Pune during kharif-2015 season. Results obtained indicated that Treatment No. T-3 (Two sprayings of Brigade BL @ 2.0 ml/L) treatment resulted in reduction of leaf folder/roller larvae/m upto 45-39% individually and 95-56% in combination with chemical insecticides. Similarly, spraying of Brigade-BL @ 2.0 ml/L resulted in increase of plant height (7.44%), leaf area (7.68%), Pods/plant (21.40%) harvest index (17.90%) and yield by 19.79% over control and 4.07% over chemical insecticides. Similarly, spraying of Brigade-BL did not show any phytotoxic effect on soybean plants.