Efficacy of Different Insecticides against Management of Spodoptera litura and Erionota thrax in Banana (Musa paradisiaca L.) Crop

The present study was conducted to study the efficacy of different insecticides against management of both S. litura and E thrax both are defoliator pest of banana. Field experiments were carried out during 2021 and 2022 in farmers' fields located in the Tungabhadra Command area of Vijayanagar district, Karnataka, India. The pooled mean results revealed that stem injection of dinotefuran 20% SG at 30 g in 500 ml of water was the most effective treatment, resulting in the lowest leaf infestation levels by S. litura (3.14%) and E. thrax (2.85%) respectively. This treatment was statistically at par with the application of chlorantraniliprole 0.4% GR at 10 g/plant (3.53% and 3.55% infestation). Other effective treatments included soil application of fipronil 0.6% GR at 10 g/plant (3.90% and 3.89%) and basal application of clothianidin 50% WDG at 0.25 g/plant (3.89% and 3.88%), both of which showed notable reductions in leaf infestation. In contrast, the untreated control plot recorded the highest mean leaf infestation (12.07%), which was significantly greater than all other treatments.