Impact of Spray Adjuvant on the Toxicity of Insecticides against Lepidopterans

Toxicity of novel insecticide, emamectin benzoate 5% WSG and conventional insecticide, cypermethrin 10% EC was evaluated against three lepidopteran pests viz, American bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), Tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) and Spotted bollworm, Earias vittella (Fabricius). Thereafter, toxicity of these molecules alone and in different combinations with spray adjuvant (Tip Top^R) was also evaluated against second instar (5-day old) larvae of these lepidopterans. Mixing of spray adjuvant with emamectin benzoate resulted in enhancement of toxicity and consequence of that larval mortality of test insects was more, in H. armigera ((3.4–73.3%), S. litura (6.7–86.7%) and E. vittella (6.7–80.0%). However, there was no impact of this adjuvant on the toxicity of cypermethrin.