Eco-friendly Management of Banana Fruit and Leaf Scarring Beetle for Quality Production through Farmers’ Participatory Approach in Samastipur District, Bihar, India

A field experiment was conducted during 2019-2021 in North Bihar under farmer’s field condition, to find out efficacies of neem-based pesticide and white polypropylene bunch cover for management of banana fruit and leaf scarring beetle Basilepta subcostatum (Jacoby) damaging the crop severely in the region particularly in kharif season. The study indicated that weather conditions play an important factor in the intensity of the infestation. It has been found the spray of azadirachtin (5 ml/L) and use of bunch cover were highly effective. However, covering the banana bunches with white polypropylene cover was found to be more effective in terms of mean fruit infestation (9.71%), number of scarring beetles per plant (3.45), pulp-peel ratio (3.78), and benefit-cost ratio (3.90). The findings suggested that this eco-friendly management strategy can be adopted by using bunch cover for production of quality banana fruits.