Traditional pest management practices and lesser exploited natural products in Ethiopia and India: Appraisal and revalidation

189-201The paper focuses on the Indigenous Farmers Technical Knowledge (IFTK) and its utilization for pest control covering an appraisal on 26 traditional pest management practices and 45 potential lesser-exploited natural products. A revalidation study on the effectiveness of fermented cattle urine and other natural products against barley aphid, D. noxia Mordov. and Welo bush cricket, D. brevipennis Raggea (3rd instar) in Ethiopia revealed that cow urine (1:6) was toxic to these insects, provided more than double increase in yield and the toxicity was at par with the treatments. vi z. tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum Linn.), neem (Azadirachta indica Linn.), chilli (Capsicum inn.), garlic (Allium cepa Linn.), soap and diesel mixture at booting as well as flowering stage. Further, studies conducted on Sorghum (Sorghum vulgare Pers.)(soaked with urine for 20 min) witnessed reduced incidence of covered and loose smut by 90% and was comparable with conventional fungicides (Thiram and Apronplus). In order to ascertain the insecticidal properly of cow urine, a preliminary laboratory study was conducted in India. Mortality of the banana fly. D. melanogaster Meigen treated with 3 days fermented cow urine (1:6) resulted in 79.6 % mortality as against 2.8% in control and was statistically at par with garlic and 3 times more effective than NSKE (5%). Bioassay of cow urine when further carried out on the cowpea aphid, A. craccivora Koch was found as effective as garlic (Allium cepa Linn.) and Imidacloprid (0.25%)