EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT BIOPESTICIDES AGAINST FRUIT BORER INFESTATION ON CAPSICUM (CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.)

Capsicum has been found to be infested by different insect and mite species. In different growing zones, capsicum fruit borers (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner and Spodoptera litura Fab.) inflict significant crop damage. The purpose of this study was to see how efficient biopesticides are against the capsicum fruit borer. BARI Misti Morich-1 was used in this study. The experiment comprised with five treatments and was laid in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. The treatments were: T1=Azadirachtin (Bioneem plus 1 EC @ 1 ml/ L of water), T2=Spinosad (Success 2.5 SC @ 0.3 ml/ L of water), T3=Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt spray @ 2 g/ L of water), T4=Abamectin (Border plus 1.8 EC @ 1 ml/ L of water) and T5=Untreated control. All the treatments were applied at 10 days intervals. During the study period, the maximum weight of healthy fruits plant-1 (876.84 g) was calculated from T2 [Spinosad (Success 2.5 SC)]. On the contrary, the minimum weight of healthy fruits plant-1 (320.26 g) was obtained from control treatment (T5). The least infested fruit weight plant-1 (268.00 g) was recorded from T2 [Spinosad (Success 2.5 SC)]. On the contrary, the maximum weight of infested fruit (284.92 g) was recorded from untreated control (T5). The least percentage of fruit infestation in terms of weight (23.41%) was obtained from the treatment T2 [Spinosad (Success 2.5 SC)] and the maximum fruit infestation (47.08%) was calculated from untreated control (T5). The weight reduction from fruit infestation over control was estimated and the maximum value (58.28%) was obtained from T2 [Spinosad (Success 2.5 SC)], while the minimum (19.74%) reduction of fruit infestation over control was in T1 [Azadirachtin (Bioneem plus 1 EC)] treatment. The highest weight of fruit yield (27.26 t ha⁻¹) was recorded from the treatment T2 [Spinosad (Success 2.5 SC)]. The lowest yield (14.41 t ha⁻¹) of fruit was recorded from untreated control (T5) and was closely (16.71 t ha⁻¹) followed by T1 [Azadirachtin (Bioneem plus 1 EC)]. Treatment T3 (Bacillus thuringiensis (BT spray)) showed higher weight of fruit yield (24.37 t ha⁻¹) but significantly differed from T2 treatment. The weight increase in yield over control was estimated, the highest value (89.17%) was obtained from the treatment T2 [Spinosad (Success 2.5 SC)], while the lowest value was (15.97 %) from the treatment T1 [Azadirachtin (Bioneem plus 1 EC)]. Biopesticides were found to be effective against the Capsicum fruit borer in the study when compared to the other treatments.