Bio-efficacy of essential oil formulations of mint, Basil and Geranium against onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman and chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood under field conditions

Three essential oil formulations (25% EC) of Mint, coded as M-CT, M-T and M-KT were developed and evaluated for their bio-efficacy against thrips under field conditions. They were first tested against onion thrips Thrips tabaci Lindeman at three doses i.e., 0.5, 1.0 and 2 ml of the formulations/litre, i.e., 0.0125%, 0.025 and 0.05% a. i. of Mint oil, during February-May 2012 and were found to be highly promising. These three EC formulations of essential oils of mint were further evaluated against chilli thrips Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood under field conditions along with 25% EC formulation of Basil coded as B-T and Geranium coded as G-T each at 1 ml/litre dose i.e. 0.0125% a.i. of essential oil. These formulations at this dose were again found to be effective against chilli thrips. This is the first report of development of any EC formulation of essential oils and their evaluation under field conditions.