Efficacy of different management practices on the incidence of guava bark eating caterpillar, Indarbela sp.

Abstract

Bark eating caterpillar is a polyphagous insect pest causing considerable damage to various fruit crops. Very high incidence of this pest has been noticed in unmanaged guava orchards. Keeping in the view the importance of this pest, different management practices were evaluated under field conditions at ICAR-Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Rehmankhera farm Lucknow. Among the treatments tested, swabbing of insecticide acephate on guava trunk reduced the bark eating caterpillar infestation effectively with no new ribbon formation by the caterpillar, it was followed by swabbing of profenophos, Beaveria bassiana and combination of dichlorovos sealer cum healer (IIHR product) +/- copper oxychloride, respectively. The results of the effect of Beaveria bassiana were most significant in the experiment as it not only reduced the incidence but also colonized in the guava trunk.