Studies on Seasonal Incidence and Bio-Efficacy of Insecticides Against Hairy Caterpillar, Eupterote canarica Moore (Eupteroidae: Lepidoptera) in Small Cardamom

An experiment was conducted at Zonal Horticultural Research Station, during 2011–12 and 2012–13. The experimental results indicated that the maximum incidence of hairy caterpillar population ranged from 0 to 5.51 and maximum population was recorded from first fortnight of September to second fortnight of December. The minimum population was observed from March to May and there was noincidence during June to July. The population of hairy caterpillar exhibited a positive correlation with maximum relative humidity (r= 0.4127), rainfall(r= 0.4967) and minimum temperature (r= 0.506) while negative correlation with maximum temperature (r=-0.7891) and sunshine hours (r=-0.7806). The efficacy of all the treatments found effective compared tountreated control. Among the treatments the spray of Acetamiprid 0.35gm/lit was found effective and recorded with minimum population of (1.14 larvae/plant), followed by imidacloprid @ 0.5ml/lit (2.33 larva/plant) and is almost on par with standard check 2ml/lit (2.32) respectively compared to other treatments. The botanicals found effective compared to untreated control.