Efficacy of Botanicals and Synthetic Insecticides against Pests of Coccinia and Their Safety to Predatory Spiders

A field experiment was conducted at the Instructional farm, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during March 2006 to September 2007 to evaluate the effect of botanicals viz., azadirachtin, neem oil-garlic emulsion, neem oil, illipe oil and synthetic insecticides viz., imidacloprid, quinalphos, malathion and dimethoate against sucking pests of coccinia viz., Saissetia hemisphaerica Targ., Aphis spiraecola Patch and defoliators viz., Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata F. Aulacophora spp and their natural enemies. The treatments were applied twice at four months interval starting from flowering stage of the crop. Among the synthetic insecticides imidacloprid 0.005 per cent gave protection for two months against S. hemisphaerica and 45 days against A. spiraecola whereas others gave protection only up to 15 days. Imidacloprid 0.005 per cent was the best treatment in reducing the leaf infestation by both H. vigintioctopunctata and Aulacophora spp. The botanicals were found effective in controlling A. spiraecola and defoliators viz., H. vigintioctopunctata, Aulacophora spp. Both botanicals and synthetic insecticides were found safe to the spiders.