Abstract
Several experiments were conducted on farmers perceptions of pesticide usage and
management in controlling okra shoot and fruit borer Earias vittella (Fabricius), in five
districts, screening of okra varieties for resistance, efficacy of some insecticides, botanicals,
mechanical control (hand picking) and development of a suitable IPM package against
okra shoot and fruit borer during September 2013 to December 2017. A demographic
survey were made by questionnaire showed that almost all the farmers know the
symptoms of okra shoot and fruit borer and its control. Insecticide was found as a common
control practice where 10 brands were in use twelve rounds in a growing season with or
without recommended dose. Farmers opined that control of okra shoot and fruit borer with
traditional insecticides was quite difficult. A few farmers followed IPM practices with a
little idea. Advices of pesticide use were mainly from pesticide dealers or retailers and a
very few farmers contacted government extension worker for this purpose. Fourteen
promising okra varieties were screened under field condition to find out their susceptibility
to the OSFB. Among the varieties, BARI-1 was noted as comparatively resistant, which
showed lower fruit infestation 21.67/plot and higher yield 7.42 ton/ha compared to other
varieties. Arka anamika showed the highest fruit infestation 40.33/plot and low yield 6.41
ton/ha. It was identified as a less resistant variety. Another experiment was conducted to
evaluate the effectiveness of some insecticides, somen botanicals and one mechanical control
(hand picking) against OSFB and it was found that spray with protect 50 SG, ripcord 10 EC,
dursban 20 EC, neem seed kernel extract, neem oil, mahogany oil and mechanical control
(hand picking) reduced shoot infestation by 54.11, 47.35, 26.92, 44.47, 40.29, 22.83 and
15.89%, respectively over control and fruit infestation by 71.77, 67.94, 58.78, 64.12, 62.61,
57.25 and 55.74%, respectively over control. The materials increased yield of healthy fruits
by 62.17, 50.54, 26.82, 39.22, 33.95, 25.43 and 23.41%, respectively over control. The benefit
cost ratio (BCR) obtained with protect 50 SG, ripcord 10 EC, dursban 20 EC, neem seed
kernel extract, neem oil, mahogany oil and mechanical control (hand picking) were 4.01,
3.70, 2.21, 2.72, 2.65, 1.93 and 0.05, respectively. Eight IPM packages (package 1: protect 50
SG+NSKE, package 2: protect 50 SG+neem oil, package 3: ripcord 10 EC+NSKE, package 4:
ripcord 10 EC+neem oil, package 5: NSKE+neem oil, package 6: protect 50
SG+NSKE+ripcord 10 EC, package 7: protect 50 SG+neem oil+ripcord 10 EC, package 8:
protect 50 SG+NSKE+neem oil+ripcord 10 EC) were tested against OSFB in the year 2016
and 2017. In 2016 packages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 caused 57.41, 35.94, 53.07, 39.40, 28.46,
46.08, 39.94 and 42.65% reduction, respectively in shoot infestation over control, and 75.19,
70.53, 72.86, 63.56, 62.79, 69.00, 58.91 and 57.37% reduction respectively, in fruit infestation
over control. The packages gave 61.94, 44.53, 54.55, 41.45, 38.06, 45.76, 42.84 and 40.99%
increase, respectively in healthy fruits over control. The maximum BCR (4.43) was obtained
from package 1 followed by package 3 (4.16), package 4 (3.16) and package 2 (3.13). In 2017
packages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 caused, respectively 59.75, 36.90, 56.37, 38.46, 29.24, 46.80,
36.91 and 36.10% reduction respectively in shoot infestation over control, and 74.64, 68.66,
73.14, 62.68, 60.44, 65.68, 58.97 and 58.20% reduction respectively, in fruit infestation over
control. The packages gave respectively 62.12, 43.40, 53.53, 41.72, 37.88, 46.01, 43.10 and
41.56% increase in healthy fruits over control. The maximum BCR (4.47) was obtained from
package 1 followed by package 3 (4.08), package 4 (3.21) and package 2 (3.04). Findings of
the experiments revealed that, the package 1 (Protect 50 SG+NSKE) gave the best result in
the year 2016 and 2017, respectively.