Reflex of Different Pest Management Modules against Sucking Insect-pests and Pod Borer for the Safety of Beneficial Insects in Vegetable French Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Abstract

Background: Natural farming (NF) is a farming system that uses environmentally friendly pest and disease management practices. In contrast to chemical farming, it avoids use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides and hence, offers an alternative way for the eco-friendly pest management for the sustainable crop production. French bean crop is ravaged by wide array of insect pests wherein, sucking insect-pests like aphids, leaf miner and pod borer causing considerable damage. To manage these pests, farmers are spraying both recommended and non-recommended synthetic chemical pesticides having adverse effects on environment and human beings. Methods: Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the pest management strategies against sucking insect-pests and pod borer infesting French bean over a period of three years from 2019-20 to 2021-22 at College of Horticulture, Sirsi, Uttar Kannada (Hill Zone of Karnataka) during summer season. Four pest management modules viz., farmers practice, organic farming, natural farming (NF) and recommended package of practices (RPP) were evaluated to manage the pests in an eco-friendly manner. The field experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with five replications comprising of four treatments. The standard protocol was followed for recording observations. Result: Among the different modules tested, farmers practice recorded lowest population of aphids, leaf miner and pod borer and was at par with recommended package of practices. Whereas, Organic farming and natural farming recorded moderate level of pest infestation and quite safe for maintaining the predators like Coccinellids, Chrysoperla carnea and spider population for natural predation. The cost of plant protection measures was also least in these modules which indicates the socially and economically acceptable farming practices which may be adopted for safer French bean production.

Evaluation of Integrated Pest Management Practices against the Incidence of White Fly and Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus (BYMV) in Rajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

“…with neem oil was effective against sucking pests in rajmash the results are in conformity with the findings of Shivanand et al, 2023 who had reported that azadirachtin 3000 PPM @ 5 ml l -1 (11.53±0.43 no. five leaf -1 ) with 62.96 per cent reduction of aphids on french bean at Uttara Kannada.…”

“…In India rajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is largely grown in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, North Eastern Hills, Darjeeling, South plateau Hills (Nilgiris and Palani hills) Mahabaleshwar, Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) and Chick Mangalore (Karnataka) (Nirmala et al, 2015 andNaik et al, 2022). Rajmash as a legume vegetable plays a major role in nourishment of human population due to high protein content (21.1%) and plays a strategic role against protein calorie malnutrition and reducing the risk of chronic disease in India in developing countries (Heerden and Schonfeldt, 2004, Kumar et al, 2006, Raju and Mehta, 2009, Shivanand et al, 2023and Kimani et al, 2023. The dry rajmash beans have potential health benefits for humans because of their anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory and good for bladder burns, diarrhoea, eczema and hiccups reported by (Ganesan and Xu, 2017;Abhishek et al, 2021).…”

“…It is grown in shoddy and undulated lands in late kharif (02 nd Fortnight of August -01 st Fortnight of September) and rabi (October -February), seasons in an area of 9800 ha with a productivity of 350 kg ha -1 (Ashoka et al, 2021, Naik et al, 2022. The rajmash is susceptible to both biotic and abiotic stresses, of which the damage caused by insect pests and disease are the major constraints to the low productivity of the rajmash, particularly in the tropics and the yield losses due to insect pests alone have been estimated to the tune of 35% to 100% annually (Graham and Vance, 2003, Singh and Schwartz, 2011, Naik et al, 2022, Shivanand et al, 2023.…”

“…Rajmash is attacked by a vast array of insect pests such as, flea beetles, leaf miner, stem fly, bean weevil, aphids, white fly, thrips; defoliators and spider mites under open field conditions and are causing considerable economic damage as reported by several workers from various regions of India (Srivastava and Agarwal, 2004, Sharma et al, 2005, Abrol et al, 2006, Sadhu et al, 2008, Singh and Schwartz, 2011, Oyewale and Bamaiyi, 2013, Singh, 2013, Noor et al, 2014, Singh and Singh, 2015, Kalita et al, 2016, Amit et al, 2017, Mondal et al, 2018, Naik et al, 2022, Wajid et al, 2022, Shivanand et al, 2023. (Njau andLyimo 2000, andNaik et al, 2022) reported that the crop is mainly attacked by viral diseases viz., Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus (BYMV), Bean Seed Borne Mosaic Virus and bean common mosaic virus (BCMV).…”