Varietal Screening and Insecticidal Evaluation Aginst Maruca Vitrata (geyer) in Pigeonpea

Considerable number of insecticides have been tested and a few of them were found effective against pod borer, complex including Maruca on cowpea and pigeonpea (Degri and Choudhary 1998 and Sahoo and se"apati 2000). But repeated use of these chemicals result in the development of resistance to insecticides. ~ e c e n ttlh~e management was focused on the use of safer chemicals and microbial pesticides. After the introduction and availability of the new molecules such as indoxacarb and spinosad, which were tested and found effective against the key polyphagous pests like Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera Iirura, but the studies on the effect of these new molecules on M. vitratu were inconclusive. So there is every need to study their effect on this species. Hence, the present study was mainly focused on the , development of effective management strategies for M.vitrata with the following objectives...