Bioefficacy of Insecticides for the Management of Termites in Wheat under Semi-arid Irrigated Conditions of South-Western Punjab

The bio-efficacy of insecticides to provide an economic and eco-friendly alternative for termite management in wheat is reported. Seed treatment with thiamethoxam @ 1gkg⁻¹ seed exhibited significantly lower damaged tillers m⁻¹ row as compared to other treatments. After 4 weeks of sowing, lower incidence of termite (0.38%) was observed with broadcasting of fipronil 0.3G @ 20 kgha⁻¹ which was at par with thiamethoxam 70 WS (0.39%). All the insecticides were found to be effective in reducing termite damage as compared to control. After 5 weeks of sowing, minimum per cent damaged tillers (1.85%) were recorded with broadcasting of soil mixed chlorpyriphos 20 EC @ 3 Lha⁻¹ which was at par with fipronil 0.3 G @ 20 kgha⁻¹ (2.27%) as well as thiamethoxam 70 WS (2.30%).At earhead stage, per cent damaged earheadm⁻¹ row varied from 0.44 to 1.28. However, seed treatment with chlorpyriphos @ 4 mLkg⁻¹ seed (0.44%) was at par with thiamethoxam 70 WS (0.51%) as well as broadcasting of soil mixed with chlorpyriphos @ 3 Lha⁻¹ (0.52%). Grain yield was significantly higher in treated plots than control. The highest ICBR was obtained in seed treatment of chlorpyriphos 20EC@ 4 mLkg⁻¹ of seed and thiamethoxam @ 1 gkg⁻¹ seed followed by broadcasting of soil mixed with chlorpyriphos and higher dose of fipronil 0.3G @ 20 kgha⁻¹.