EFFICACY OF NEW INSECTICIDE MOLECULES AGAINST ROOT GRUB IN ARECANUT ECOSYSTEM

Root grubs become a serious pest and a major constraint for production particularly during kharif season. The field experiment was conducted in garden at Kangod, Sagara taluk in Shimoga district during 2012-2013, Karnataka, India. Among the different treatments tested against the root grubs rynaxypyr (a) 0.18 ml per litre had given maximum mortality (74.95%) followed by rynaxypyr (a) 0.12 ml per palm (73.33%) mortality. The next best was chlorpyriphos (@) 4 ml per litre (68.73%) followed by imidacloprid (68.13%) (a) 1.5 ml per litre. The mortality caused by (66.17%) fipronil (a) 0.75 ml per litre and neem cake (a) 2 kg per palm perform was moderate in killing the root grubs. The bioagents Metarrhizium anisopliae performance was not satisfactory even after 60 days of application. Present findings indicated that rynaxypyr (a) 0.12 ml per litre or Chlorpyriphos(a) 4 ml per litre can be applied during first week of September. The insecticides has to be placed about one foot away from the base of the palm at 6 inch depth for effective control of root grubs.