Rationalizing pest management in sugarcane

A rational pest management module including minimum quantity of synthetic organic pesticide (rynaxypyr), a semi-synthetic pesticide (cartap hydrochloride), a plant fraction (neem oil), repellent crops (coriander and basil), physical barrier, refuge planting, detrashing, removal of water and late shoots, pheromone traps, Beauveria spore formulation etc. was evaluated against sugarcane borers. The module components worked well resulting in low egg density, lower intensity of infestation and extent of damage and less quantity of pesticide to effectively suppress population build up of the next generations. The components worked in the way as was expected and two times application of synthetic chemicals (rynaxypyr 0.4 G @ 40 g ai/ha; cartap hydrochloride 4G @ 300 g ai/ha) in conjunction with neem oil (7 ml/l) in rational treatments provided good protection registering only 1.1–9.1% top borer infestation, 2.1–10.5% stalk borer infestation and 5.3–8.9% root borer infestation and sponsored good yields (73.7–75.6 t/ha). These treatments were statistically at par with chemical check, imidacloprid 0.3 GR @ 100 g ai/ha (three applications), which suffered 1.3–10.5% top borer infestation, 2.9–10.7% stalk borer infestation and 5.4–9.4% root borer infestation. Significantly high infestation was recorded in untreated check during peaks of top borer, stalk borer and root borer.