Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012 (India).
Four insecticides, viz, quinalphhos (0.05%) spray, fenvalerate (0.04%) dust @ 20 kg/ha, endosulfan (0.7%) spray, lindane (1.3%) dust @ 20 kg/ha along with bio-pesticide neem seed kernel suspension (5%) were evaluated against Atherigona approximata Mall. and stem borer, Chilo partellus (Swinh). infesting pearl millet. The shoot fly damage (dead-hearts) ranged from 6.29 to 21.18% in different treatments as compared to 22.28% in untreated control. The stem borer dead-hearts ranged from 3.62 to 13.77% in different insecticidal treatments as compared to 16.41% in untreated control. There were no significant differences between quinalphos, endosulfan and lindane treatments. However, fenvalerate treatment was at par with lindane. All the treatments were significantly different from neem seed kernel spray in the case of shoot fly. Against stem borer, quinalphos, fenvalerate, endosulfan and lindane were at par but were significantly, different from neem seed kernel spray. Similar trend was observed in the case of grain and fodder yield. Maximum grain and fodder yields were obtained from endosulfan treated plots i.e., 28.82 and 35.79 q/ha, respectively followed by quinalphos i.e., 23.37 and 30.86 q/ha, respectively. Neem seed kernel spray was practically ineffective against both the shoot fly and stem borer.
