1Department of Agricultural Biology, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana, Kamburupitiya, Sri Lanka.
2Regional Research Station, Department of Agriculture, Tellijjawila, Sri Lanka.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the 16th Annual Convention and International Symposium of Indian Virological Society on “Management of Vector-Borne Viruses” at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru-502324, Hyderabad, India, February 7–10, 2006.
The Botanical insecticides composed of essential oils may be an alternative to the more persistent synthetic pesticides for the management of vectors responsible for virus diseases. A proprietary emulsifiable concentrate containing 25% essential oil extract of Chenopodium ambrosoides (EOCA) as the active ingredient was tested with neem extract, insecticide soap, abamectin, dicofol and endosulfan for the control of green peach aphid, Myzus persicae and groundnut thrip, Frankliniella schultezi. The EOCA at 0.5% caused mortality percentage (43.6%) and insecticide soap (55.2%) and were significantly more effective against M. persicae than the control. The extract of C. ambrosoides at the concentration 0.5% gave excellent control of F. schultezi (95.7%) and insecticidal soap (82.6%) than neem oil (17.7%) and water (10.8%). The EOCA proved to be more effective than commercial products in controlling the major virus vectors such as M. persicae and F. schultezi, than neem extract, insecticidal soap, endosulfan and abamectin.
