Efficacy of insecticides and bio-pesticides against epilachna beetle and blister beetle infesting cowpea crop

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 1 ml/l, thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.5 ml/l, spinetoram 11.7 SC @ 0.25 ml/l, lambda-cyhalothrin 5% EC @ 1 ml/l, emamectin benzoate 5% SG @ 1 ml/l, Dr. neem @ 2 ml/l and neem oil 5% @ 5 ml/l and untreated control against Epilachna and blister beetles on cowpea. Amongst the treatments lambda-cyhalothrin 5% EC @ 1 ml/l was found most effective in reducing the beetles population (1.33 and 0.67 beetle/plant), followed by spinetoram 11.7 SC (2.02 and 1.23 beetle/plant), emamectin benzoate 5% SG (2.83 and 1.99 beetles/plant), imidacloprid 17.8 SL (3.18 and 2.98 beetles/plant) and thiamethoxam 25 WG (4.12 and 3.41 beetles/plant) respectively were the next most effective treatments. Dr. neem (5.13 and 4.02 beetles/plant) and neem oil 5% (5.47 and 4.26 beetles/plant) were found least effective among the treatments, yet still outperformed the untreated control.