Eco-friendly Management of Pink Stem Borer (Sesamia inferens Walker) in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana Gaertn) in Andhra Pradesh, India

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana Gaertn) is a nutri-cereal, known for its unique nutritional properties and climate resilience. In India, among various insect pests infesting finger millet, pink stem borer causes extensive damage to the crop in the peninsular India throughout the year and across the country. In the present scenario of growing importance of sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture, exploring effective and environmentally safe novel insecticides and microbial pesticides needs to be prioritized for management of pink stem borer in finger millet. Field studies were conducted at regional agricultural research station, Anakapalle, Andhra Pradesh to evaluate a novel eco-friendly insecticide, a botanical and few microbial pesticides for their efficacy against pink stem in finger millet during 2019-20 and 2020-21. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. All the treatments were imposed as two foliar sprays at 15-20 days after sowing and again at 35-40 days after sowing and cumulative incidence of dead hearts and white ears were recorded up to 60 days after sowing. The cumulative data from the two consecutive years of study, revealed that emamectin benzoate @ 0.4 gl-1 is most effective in managing pink stem borer (2.5 per cent dead hearts and 2.8 per cent white ear heads), giving higher yield (29.4 quintals per hectare) and also achieving higher benefit cost ratio of 3.25. Among the botanicals and microbial pesticides tested, M. anisopliae @5 gl-1and B.bassiana @5 gl-1 proved to be the best at reducing the dead hearts to 3.9-4.3 per cent and white ear heads to 4.2-4.7 per cent. The cost economics reinforced the superiority of M. anisopliae and B. bassiana by obtaining benefit cost ratios of 3.08 and 2.98, respectively.