Varietal preference and chemical control of onion thrips (Thrips tabci: Thripidae) on onion

Three experiments were conducted to find 1. onion thrips preference for the five onion varieties 2. the most effective granular insecticide, and 3. the most effective emulsifiable concentrate insecticide. In the first experiment, five onion varieties viz. Swat, Peshawar local, Quetta, Faisalabad, and Indian were grown to find their preference for onion thrips infestation. All the varieties were found non significantly different from each other regarding thrips infestation. However, lowest population was found on Peshawar local variety (10.29) followed by Quetta (11.85), Swat (13.4), Faisalabad (18.0) and Indian (23.5). Regarding mean number of adult thrips/leaf, Faisalabad was least infested (6.6) followed by Quetta (6.7), Peshawar local (7.0), Swat (7.2), and Indian (8.64). In the second experiment, four granular insecticides viz. Temik Sunfuran, Kinodine and Mocap were tested against onion thrips. No significant difference was found among the mean number of nymph thrips/leaf. However, lowest population was found in the sunfuran treated plot (14.33) followed by Temik (14.74), Kinodin (15.72) and Mocap (15.97). Regarding the adult thrips population, lowest population was found in Temik treated plot (13.37) followed by Sunfuran (13.62), Mocap (13.83) and Kinodin (14.22). In the third experiment, four emulsifiable concentrate insecticides viz. Baythroid TM, Meothrin, Facron and Padan were tested against onion thrips on onion. Population of nymphs was found lowest in Baythroid TM treated plot (9.74 and 2.32) after both the sprays followed by Meothrin Super (11.88 and 2.57), Facron (14.09 and 2.78), and Padan (15.14 and 4.39). After first spray, population of adult thrips was found lowest (1.57) in Baythroid TM treated plot which by Meothrin Super (1.82), Facron (2.03), and Padan (2.13). After second spray, population of adult thrips was found lowest (0.49) in Meothrin Super treated plot followed by Baythroid TM (0.50), Padan (0.54), and Facron (0.73). Although there was no significant difference among the granular and emulsifiable concentrate insecticides tested, but they significantly reduced population of thrips from the check plots.