T. B. PATIL, S. A. LANDGE, K. S. PAGIRE, Y. S. SAINDANE, N. K. BHUTE AND S. K. GHODKE
Research Scholar, PGI, Department of Entomology, MPKV, Rahuri (Maharashtra), India 2Assistant Professor, AICRP on Forage Crops and Utilization, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri-413 722 (Maharashtra), India
Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Gadchiroli, Dr. PDKV, Akola-442 605 (Maharashtra), India
Assistant Residue Analyst, Department of Entomology, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri-413 722 (Maharashtra), India
Assistant Entomologist, Cotton Improvement Project, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri-413 722 (Maharashtra), India
Assistant Professor of Soil Science, Interfaculty Department of Irrigation Water Management, PGI, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri-413 722 (Maharashtra), India
*(e-mail: landge_sandip@rediffmail.com)
(Received: 5 December 2024; Accepted: 30 December 2024)
SUMMARY
An experiment entitled was conducted at All India Coordinated Research Project on Forage Crops and Utilization, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri during Kharif 2023. During the course of study six biopesticides and three intercrops were evaluated against fall armyworm on fodder maize. The results of field experiment revealed that, entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae @ 5 g/L proved most effective against Spodoptera frugiperda and significantly reduced the per cent plant infestation up to 27.78 % with highest fodder yield 468 q/ha followed by Beauveria bassiana@ 5 g/L (32.10%). Next effective treatments were azadirachtin (10000 ppm) (40.81%) and NSKE 5 % @ 50 g/L (43.47%) but were at par with each other. Intercropping with legumes such as field bean (53.59%), cowpea (54.52 %) shows that it helps to reduce fall armyworm infestation than sole maize, also it increased the natural enemies population such as coccinellids, spiders in maize. While, intercropping with bajara (58.79%) was least effective treatment with heavy infestation (65.68%) after untreated control.
Key words: Maize, fall armyworm, biopesticides, Intercrops