Evaluation of indigenous, botanical and chemical materials against banana stem weevil, Odoiporus longicollis (Oliv.) (Coleoptera:Curculionidae).

Keywords: Banana stem weevil, indigenous knowledge, botanicals and insecticides, bio-efficacy

The field experiment was laid out in RCBD with nine treatments and three replications for the management of banana stem weevil, Odoiporus longicollis (Oliv.) in Nwalparasi, Nepal. The treatments were: borergaurd, annosom, derisom, margosom, cow-urine, nicotine sulphate, endosulphan, aluminium phosphide and water sprayed to compare their efficacy against the weevil. The results showed that the chemical pesticides were significantly different than the botanicals and indigenous materials, while among botanical materials, annosom was significantly different from other materials for the reduction of weevil population in banana orchard. In case of botanical extracts and indigenous materials, maximum reduction of population over control was achieved by annosom (76.02%) after 10 days of the third spray and cow urine (54.32%) after 5 days of third spray, whereas the highest reduction (96.28%) over control was achieved by aluminium phosphide after 5 days of the second treatment. Although organic pest management practices did not cause immediate mortality as compared to inorganic ones, they have no residual effect, no health hazards and are eco-friendly, and therefore, can be practiced in an integrated way.