Efficacy of neem based insecticides against the major insect pests of rice in the hills of Himachal Pradesh (India)

The efficacy of six different neem products, viz, Nimbicidine, Neemax, Neemgold, Econeem, Neemazal and Fortune was evaluated in the field against major insect pest, damaging rice in kharif season from 1996 to 1998. All the neem formulations were statistically at par with the insecticide chlorpyriphos for the control of these pests, viz., stem borer, Scirpophaga innotata (Walk.); rice hispa, Dicladispa armigera (Olivier); and leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Linn.), damaging rice variety Kasturi Basmati. Significantly higher yields (30–31 qlha) were obtained in treated plots as compared to (28 q/ha) in the untreated control.