MANAGEMENT OF SAFFLOWER APHID THROUGH   PERIPHERAL APPLICATION OF INSECTICIDES

C.P.Mallaper and Y.P. Patil

 Abstract

An experiment on the management of safflower aphid, Uroleucon compositae Theobald was carried out from 1997-98 to 1999-2000 at Agricultural Research Station, Annigeri. The application of dimethoate [@ 1.7 ml/lt of water] around the field [4 rows or 1.8 metre peripheral region] on a need basis was compared with the whole field application of the insecticide and the untreated check.  Three years of experimentation on a large-scale basis confirmed that the application of insecticide at the peripheral region only was as effective as the whole field treatment. The peripheral region treatment not only delayed the initial appearance of the pest for 75 days, but also resulted in a negligible pest population infestation of 10-22 aphids/5 cm bud, even during the peak period of infestation.  Further, the treatment also produced a seed yield at par with the whole field treatment. The peripheral application treatment recorded a very high insect cost-to-benefit ratio of 13.5 compared to 3.7 for the whole field control treatment. Thus, it was concluded that the safflower aphid would be managed by applying the insecticides only at the peripheral region [4 rows or 1.8 m] of the field.

 Key words: Safflower aphid, Uroleucon compositae Theobald, Aphid management, Peripheral application, Dimethoate