This document outlines the thesis project of Dhanendra Dhanuka studying insect pests of pigeonpea. The objectives are to study the insect pest complex and their seasonal incidence, and evaluate biopesticides for managing the pod borer complex. Field experiments will be conducted during the 2018-19 kharif season with 9 treatments including various biopesticides applied to pigeonpea plots. Insect pest populations and crop damage will be recorded throughout the growing season.

2. Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur
Synopsis Seminar
Session: 2018-19
Presented by
Dhanendra Dhanuka
M.Sc.(Ag.) Final Year
BTC CARS, Bilaspur
Btc college of agriculture and research station, bilaspur

3. Title of Thesis Problem
“Studies on insect pests of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.)
Millsp.) with special reference to eco-friendly management
of pod borer complex.”

4. Introduction
 Pigeonpea Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. is commonly known as redgram or arhar, is
the second most important pulse crop next to chickpea. It is an important legume crop of
arid and semi-arid regions.
 India is the largest producer of pigeonpea with the production of 4873.24 thousand
tonnes from 5337.89 thousand hectares area with an average productivity of 913 kg/ha
(Anonymous, 2016-17). In Chhattisgarh, pigeonpea covers an area of about 1.56
thousand hectares and production of about 39.60 thousand tonnes with an average
productivity of 598 kg/ha, which is less than the national average (Anonymous, 2016-
17).
 The seeds are rich in protein (21%), iron and iodine. Pigeonpea is one of the major
pulse crops with its diversified uses. Its seeds used as Dal are rich in protein. The green
pods are used as vegetable. The pod husk and leaves after threshing serve as a valuable
fodder for cattle. Woody plant stems are used as fuel. Pigeonpea being a legume
possesses valuable property as restorer of nitrogen in soil. Pigeonpea plants are also used
to culture the lac producing insect in China. It is grown on mountain slopes to arrest soil
erosion. The perennial pigeonpea is also useful in agro-forestry systems.

5.  There are several reasons for low productivity of pigeonpea. Out of which one of the
major biotic constraint causing considerable yield loss in pigeonpea are insect pests
feeding on leaves, flowers, pods, and seeds. Over 250 species of insect pests are known
to infest pigeonpea at its various growth stages (Lal and Singh, 1998).
 Out of an array of insects attacking, pulse borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner), pod
bug (Clavigralla gibbosa Spinola), pod fly (Melanagromyza obtusa Mall.), blister beetle
(Mylabris spp.), hairy caterpillars (Spilosoma cajetani Rothschild and Amsacta moorei
B.), cutworms (Agrotis ipsilon Hufn. and Ochropleura flammatra Schiffermüller),
semilooper (Autographa nigrisigna Walker), bean aphid (Aphis craccivora Koch.),
termites (Odonototermes obesus Rambur and Microtermes obesi Holmgren), pod borer
(Etiella zinckenella Treits.) and whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) are important ones (Lal
and Rohilla, 2007).
 A yield loss due to pod borers in pigeonpea was estimated to a tune of 40.6%
(Subharani and Singh, 2009). Among the pod borer complex infesting redgram, heavy
yield loss caused due to Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) because of its destructive nature
(Saxena, 2012).
 With the introduction of short duration pigeonpea cultivars, the incidence of Maruca
vitrata (Geyer) has been aggravated because flowering of these varieties occur during
periods of high humidity and moderate temperature which is favourable for the
development of pest (Sharma et al., 1997).

6. Objectives of Investigation
 To study the insect pest complex of pigeonpea along with their
natural enemies.
 To study the seasonal incidence of major insect pests of pigeonpea.
 To evaluate the bioefficacy of different biopesticides against pod
borer complex of pigeonpea.

7. Technical Programme of Work
The experiment will be conducted at Instructional Farm of
Barrister Thakur Chhedilal College of Agriculture and
Research Station, Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), during Kharif
season 2018-19 with the following technical programme of
the present investigation.

8. Experimental Details
Crop : Pigeonpea
Variety : Asha (ICPL 87119)
Year : 2018-19
Season : Kharif
Design : RBD
Replications : Three
Treatments : Nine
Plot size for record of insect pests
and their seasonal incidence : 10 m × 9.6 m
Gross plot size (Biopesticide trial) : 4.2 m× 3.0 m (12.6 m2)
Net plot size (Biopesticide trial) : 3.0 m × 2.6 m (7.8 m2)
Planting distance (Row × Plant) : 60 cm × 20 cm
No. of rows/plot : 7
Row length : 3 m
Fertilizer dose (N:P:K) : 20:60:20 kg/ha

9. Treatment Details
S. No. Name of treatment
Strain/ Chemical
Name
Formulation Dose/ lit.water
T1
Beauveria bassiana
1.0% WP (1 × 10
8
CFU/gm)
Beauveria bassiana
1.0% WP (1 ×
10
8
CFU/gm)
10 g
T2
Metarrhizium anisopliae
1.0% WP (1 × 10
8
CFU/gm)
Metarrhizium
anisopliae
1.0% WP (1 ×
10
8
CFU/gm)
10 g
T3
Bacillus thuringiensis
5.0 % WP
Bacillus
thuringiensis var.
kurstaki
5.0% WP 2 g
T4 Neem Azadiractin 5% Leaf extract 50 ml
T5 Madar Calotropin 5% Leaf extract 50 ml
T6 Karanj Karanjin 5% Leaf extract 50 ml
T7 Custard apple Annonine 5% Leaf extract 50 ml
T8 Spinosad 45 SC
Saccharopolyspora
spinosa
45 SC 0.25 ml
T9 Control (Untreated) - - -

10. Materials and Methods
1. To study the insect pest complex along with their natural enemies
 The experiment will be carried out at agronomical research field of BTC
CARS, Bilaspur. The pigeonpea seeds will be sown in the plot size of 10 m × 9.6 m
with planting distance of 60 cm × 20 cm during first week of August with
following all the improved recommended package of practices for raising the crop.
 To record the observations of insect pests complex along with their natural
enemies attacking/visiting pigeonpea (Var. Asha) crop, 10 plants will be randomly
selected from the plot. The observations will be recorded at weekly intervals from
sowing to harvesting.

11. 2. To study the seasonal incidence of major insect pests of pigeonpea
 To observe the seasonal incidence of major insect pests of pigeonpea, the weekly
observation of the pest will be made after its first appearance by counting the number
of insects found on ten randomly selected plants (leaving border rows) and there after
mean number of infested plants will be worked out.
 The insect pests population of aphids, jassids, thrips (Anonymous, 2013) and
blister beetle (Sujithra and Chander, 2014) will be recorded at weekly intervals.
 The observations on the population of different pod infesting insect pests will be
recorded at weekly interval. Observations of gram pod borer, H. armigera will be
recorded on 3 twigs of 10 cm (one each from top, middle and bottom)/ plant from 5
randomly selected plants from each net plot. Observations of plume moth, E. atomosa
larvae (per 25 pods) and total counts of pod bug, C. gibbosa (25 pods) will be
recorded on randomly selected 10 plants from each net plot (Anonymous, 2013).
Observations of spotted pod borer, M. vitrata will be recorded from 25 randomly
selected inflorescence (30 cm length) from the two middle rows of each plot
(Sreekanth et al. 2015).

12. Contd…
 The weekly meteorological data on temperature, relative humidity, rainfall,
sunshine hours and wind velocity will also be recorded for whole of the cropping
season from the meteorological observatory located at BTC CARS, Bilaspur (C.G.).
The data obtained will be correlated with various abiotic factors and correlation
coefficients will be worked out as suggested by Snedecor and Cochran, 1967. The
graphical super-imposition technique will also be employed to depict the seasonal
incidence of the pest.

13. 3. To evaluate the bioefficacy of different biopesticides against pod
borer complex of pigeonpea
 The field trial will be conducted in the agronomical research field at BTC
CARS, Bilaspur (C.G.) during kharif 2018-19. The experiment will be laid out in
randomized block design, replicated thrice with eight biopesticide treatments along
with one untreated plot.
 The pigeonpea (Var. Asha) will be sown in a plot size of 4.2×3.0 m2 with
planting distance of 60 cm × 20 cm, during first week of August, 2018 with all the
improved recommended package of practices for raising the crop for evaluating the
bioefficacy of different biopesticides against the insect pests infesting pods.
 In each treatment, total three sprays of biopesticides will be applied with the
help of knapsack sprayer at an interval of 10 days, initiating the first spray at 50 per
cent flowering.

14. Contd…
 The observations of various insect pests infesting pods will be recorded from
each net plot on 24 hour before and 3,7,10 days after application of every
treatment of biopesticides.
 The field bioefficacy of different biopesticides will be evaluated on the basis
of post treatment population/damage of different pod infesting insects. The
observations on pod infesting insects/borer complex will be taken as described
earlier in the second objective of the study. At the time of harvest, 200 pods will
be collected randomly from each treatment and number of healthy and damaged
pod will be counted to calculate the pod and grain damage percentage caused by
pod fly, gram pod borer, spotted pod borer, plume moth and tur pod bug (Patel et
al., 2015).
 Observation on insect pest population/damage due pod borer complex will be
subjected to square root and arcsine transformation before statistical analysis.