Journal of Eco-friendly Agriculture

Groundnut was intercropped with foxtail millet, pearl millet, sorghum, cowpea, lucerne, sunflower and chilli in 3:1 (groundnut: intercrop) proportion to find out suitable cropping system against insect pest of groundnut. The population of coccinellids reached its peak at 60 days after sowing (DAS) and ranged from 1.93 to 4.67 per plant. Similarly, spider population was highest at 75 DAS. The population of coccinellids and spiders were highest on groundnut + foxtail millet intercropping, followed by groundnut + pearl millet, groundnut + sorghum and groundnut + sunflower. Per cent parasitisation by different parasitoids (Apanatles sp. & Campoletis chlorideae) was maximum (22.33%) and natural incidence of Nomuraea rileyi was highest on Spodoptera litura (14.05%) at 60 DAS. The per cent parasitisation was highest in groundnut + lucerne intercropping, followed by groundnut + foxtail millet, groundnut + pearl millet, groundnut + sorghum and groundnut + sunflower.