A field experiment was conducted at Vellalore from January 2002 to December 2004 to evaluate the influence of organic and inorganic nutrients and the effect of botanicals and insecticide against coconut eriophyid mite. Soil application of nutrients along with spraying of Triazophos 40 EC (5 ml/lit.), azadirachtin 1% (5 ml/lit.) and neem oil (30 ml/lit.) as first, second and third round of sprayings, respectively were evaluated. The results revealed that there was a significant reduction in mite population (65%) after two years in the Integrated Management (IM) treated trees (application of organic and inorganic nutrients, basin cultivation of sunnhemp and three rounds of spraying) followed by trees treated with Nitrogen: Phosphorus: Potash (1.3:2.0:3.5 kg/palm/year) + Farm Yard Manure 50 kg/palm/year + neem cake 5 kg /palm/year + micronutrients + three rounds of sprayings (52.8%).  Similarly, there was also a significant reduction in the per cent damaged green nuts after two years. After second year, the per cent damaged nut was lowest (41.9) in the IM treated trees which was statistically on par with treatment 6 (42.9) as against control (71.8). A similar trend was also recorded after third year. IM package treated trees recorded the lowest nut damage grade of 2.8, 2.4 and 2.1 at harvest followed by IM package without sunnhemp as basin crop 3.0, 2.6 and 2.2 as against 4.3, 4.3 and 4.5 in the check after first, second and third year, respectively.

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Studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of a protein-enriched pea (Pisum sativum var. Bonneville) flour extract against the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae in its repellency, toxicity, effect on fecundity, stability and sensory properties. Milled rice admixed with pea flour extract at 1% concentration significantly repelled S. oryzae. Mortality of S. oryzae was found to increase and fecundity was markedly suppressed, in rice treated with 1% pea flour extract. The toxicity and reproductive effects of the pea protein-enriched rice were found to be stable for a period of 5 months. The sensory characteristics of stored rice when eaten were not affected by the treatment with pea flour extract. This study indicates that the protein-enriched flour extract obtained from the Bonneville pea may be feasible to protect stored milled rice from insect attack.

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Cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene-based DNA barcode was generated for sugarcane scale insect, Melanaspis glomerata (Green). The generated DNA barcode would certainly serve as an ideal diagnostic kit for M. glomerata. The barcode developed by us (GenBank Accession Number KR153875) would probably be the first for this species. The amino acid sequence of the M. glomerata COI fragment did not have any stop codon, and the uninterrupted open reading frame confirmed the quality of the DNA barcode. The extent of identity between the COI sequences of sugarcane scale and other three species of Diaspidids (Aonidiella aurantii, A. taxus and Melanaspis bromeliae) varied between 87.37 and 88.75 %. Therefore, the barcode generated in this study could easily delineate M. glomerata from other armoured scales of economic importance.Keywords Sugarcane scale insect Á Melanaspis glomerata Á Armoured scale Á COI Á DNA barcodeIn India, sugarcane is cultivated in an area of around 4.7 million hectares with the production of about 324 million tonnes (average of