Fine tuning of farmers’ plant protection practices to develop an alternative safer pest management system for cabbage

A new pest management system for cabbage was developed by fine-tuning farmers’ pest management practices (FFP) and found effective in suppressing the growth and development of the important pests like aphid (mean 9.22/plant), Spodoptera sp. (0.38 larva/plant, 7.13% infested plant) and diamond back moth (DBM) (0.43 larva/plant, 5.40% infested plant), and supported good yields (21,603.00 kg/ha) with comfortable benefit-cost ratio (6.81). New pest management system included seed and soil treatment with Trichoderma viride Pers. ex Fr., nursery netting, trap (marigold in border) and repellent (carrot and fennel) companion cropping, foliar sprays with plant extracts, neem oil (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) and nishinda (Vitex negundo L.) and one foliar application of ememectin benzoate. FFP was also quite safe to the natural enemies like coccinellids, spiders, syrphids, chrysopids and several species of hymenopteran parasitoids that were available in the cabbage ecosystem, all at par with untreated check.