Management of Red Pumpkin Beetle and Fruit Fly in Ash Gourd Using Biorational Insecticides

ABSTRACT: Ash gourd Benincasa hispida Thumb., a cucurbit vegetable, faces frequent infestation of red pumpkin beetle and cucurbit fruit fly. Farmers in Bangladesh mainly apply conventional synthetic insecticides to protect crops from the attack of these pests. The current study was conducted in the experimental field of the Department of Entomology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur during March 2021 to July 2021 to know the effects of five biorational insecticides, namely Biotrin (matrine), Proclaim (emamectin benzoate), Sunmectin (abamectin), Mahogany oil and Neem oil on the abundance and infestation of red pumpkin beetle and fruit fly infesting ash gourd. The insecticides were applied 3 times maintaining 7 days interval. Results showed significant reduction of the insect population compared to untreated control. Sunmectin (1.55±0.34) treated plot showed the lowest abundance of red pumpkin beetle after the 3rd spray with 65% reduction of population compared to untreated control plot. Biotrin (8.59±1.00%) treated plot showed the lowest leaf and flower infestation by red pumpkin beetle after 3rd spray, with the reduction (69% in both) over control. The lowest fruit infestation was found in Sunmectin treated plot (23.01±8.05%). The highest yield of ash gourd (17.9 T/ha) was recorded from Sunmectin treated plot which showed statistical similarity to Proclaim (16.01 T/ha) and Biotrin (15.90 T/ha) treated plots with 3.5, 2.5 and 2.6 benefit cost ratio, respectively. Therefore, it could be concluded that Sunmectin, Proclaim and Biotrin were more effective to control the infestation of red pumpkin beetle and fruit fly of ash gourd than the other tested insecticides.

Keywords: Aulacophora foveicollis, Bactrocera cucurbitae, Benincasa hispida, biorational insecticides