Anju Bharti, Alok Kumar Srivastava and BS Chandel

Pesticides have been a major contributor to the growth of agricultural productivity and food supply. Pesticides were a key factor in significant agricultural productivity growth during the last century and continue to be a critical factor in reducing crop damage. An experiment was carried out to test the insecticidal efficacy of five plant extracts against third instars larvae of Spilarctia obliqua Walker under the field conditions. The alcoholic extracts of leaves of pavettia, Adhatoda vasica Nees (Acanthaceae), black nightshade, Solanum nigrum Linn.(Solanaceae), arial parts of ariapple, Lantana camara Linn. (Verbanaceae), seeds of hulhul, Cleome monophylla Linn. (Capparidaceae) and rhizome of Zingiber officinalis Linn. (Zingiberaceae) were tested on cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata. Among them 2.0% extracts showed mortality to the third instars larvae of Spilarctia obliqua Walk. Among them, Adhatoda vasica leaves extract showed highest larval mortality. Based on mean mortality per cent findings are arranged in the following descending order of merit as: A. vasica (66.35) > C. monophylla (64.17) > L. camara (62.62) > S. nigrum (62.13) > Z. officinalis (59.64) > Control (06.14), respectively. All the extracts were considerably superior over control. The study indicated that Adhatoda vasica leaves extract was the most suitable for cabbage insect-pest management from the severe infestation of Spilarctia obliqua. These botanicals can be recommended for the farmer’s use to control Spilarctia obliqua larvae.

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