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Efficacy of Different Insecticidess
Efficacy of Different Insecticidess
3, 2011
ABSTRACT
To study the relative efficacy of different insecticides as seed dressers, granules and foliar formulations
against maize stem borer (MSB) (Chilo partellus) in maize crop, two experiments were conducted at Peshawar and
Swat Valleys of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The results of both the field experiments were somewhat similar
where seed dressers (Confidor and Actara) were found considerably more effective as compared to granules and
foliar sprays. As a whole the insecticides treatments resulted in 50% reduction of MSB infestation as compared to
control. Confidor was the most effective among the treatments causing 97.30 % reduction in C. partellus
infestation. This was followed by Actara with 88% infestation reduction as compared to control.
Key words: Chilo partellus, Maize stem borer, Seed dressers, Granules, Foliar insecticides
Citation:
Mashwani, A.M., Farman Ullah, S. Sattar, S. Ahmand and M.A. Khan. 2011. Efficacy of different
insecticides against maize stem borer, chilo partellus swinhoe (Lepicoptera: Pyralidae) at Peshawar and Swat
valleys of Khyber Pakhutunkhwa, Pakistan. Sarhad J. Agric. 27(3): 459-465
INTRODUCTION
Maize stem borer, Chilo partellus Swinhoe (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is one of the major biotic constraints
in successful maize and sorghum production worldwide (Pingali, 2001; James, 2003), particularly in Asia and Africa
(Siddiqui & Marwaha, 1993; Arabjafari & Jalali, 2007). It has been reported to cause severe losses in maize crop
throughout its geographical distribution including Pakistan. Yield losses of 24-75% have been reported by the attack
of this pest alone (Kumar & Mihm, 1995, 1996; Kumar, 2002; Khan, 1983). Farid et al. (2007) reported 10 50%
damage by maize stem borer in Peshawar valley. Yield losses caused by stem borers in Africa could be as high as
80% for maize (Van den Berg 2009) and as much as 88% in sorghum (Seshu Reddy, 1988).
A variety of insecticide chemistries and formulations have been found effective against the pest. Granular
formulations of chlorpyriphos and carbofuran were reported effective against the pest by Bhat and Baba (2007).
Similarly Ullah et al. (1992) observed that granular application of insecticides showed better control of maize stem
borer as compared to the emulsifiable concentrates (EC) as a foliar application at Peshawar, Pakistan. Seed
treatment with carbofuron and endosulfan has also been reported as useful against the pest (Sekhon and Kanta,
1992). Contrary to the observations of Bhat and Baba (2007) and Ullah et al. (1992), Singh and Sharma (2009)
determined that Chlorpyriphos was ineffective as compared to cypermethrin (foliar application). These contradictory
observations and the introduction of newer chemicals in the market necessitate testing of these compounds for
efficacy against the pest on regular basis.
Keeping in view the importance of the crop, the devastating capacity of the pest and the ever dynamic
pesticide market, the present research work was initiated to investigate the suitability of some insecticides for
effective and safe suppression of C. partellus.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
To study the relative efficacy of different insecticides as seed dressers, granules and foliar formulations
against Chilo partellus in maize crop, two experiments were conducted at Peshawar and Swat Valleys of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The chemicals and seed were obtained from local authorized dealers.
Insecticides
The insecticides used in the first experiment included two seed dressers of the Neonicotinoid group
(Actara-70WS- Thiomethoxim and Confidor- 70WS Imidacloprid, each @ 5 gm kg-1seed), two granular
insecticides of the Carbamate group (Monomehypo- 5G @ 7 kg acre-1 , Furadan- 3G Carbofuran @ 8 kg acre-1
and one granular formulation of Organophosphate (Padan 3G Cartap @ 9 kg acre-1), and four foliar insecticides;
Manzoor Ahmad Mashwani et al. Efficacy of different insecticides against maize stem borer
460
461
Table I
Percent maize stem borer infestation (pre and post application of various insecticides) with time and seasonal average
stem borer infestation as affected by insecticides in maize planted at New Developed Farm, Agric. Univ.
Peshawar, Pakistan
Treatments
Mode
of
April 14
April 15
April 21
April 28
May 5
May 12
Seasonal
Application
average
Confidor
Seed dresser
2.25
2.36
3.63
4.52
5.74
7.10
4.27 I
Actara
Seed dresser
2.75
3.02
4.36
5.78
6.50
11.72
5.69 H
Padan
Granules
7.33
7.96
8.15
8.34
10.27
10.27
8.72 F
Furadan
Granules
7.66
8.19
8.33
8.33
8.00
8.00
8.09 G
Monomehypo
Granules
8.13
8.91
9.08
9.36
12.00
12.00
9.91 D
Amicon
Spray
8.33
9.00
9.36
9.69
9.69
9.69
9.29 E
Regent
Spray
7.67
8.11
8.53
9.59
12.33
15.91
10.36 C
Lorsban
Spray
6.33
8.47
9.14
9.70
13.53
15.87
10.51 B
Dipterex
Spray
7.33
8.44
9.54
10.00
10.94
11.88
9.69 D
Check No insecticides used
6.66
11.08
14.66
17.92
20.25
22.27
15.47 A
Overall average
6.44 A
7.55 B
8.48 C
9.32D
10.92E
12.47F
9.20
Insecticides average
6.42
7.16
7.79
8.37
9.89
11.38
8.50
Seed dressers average
2.50
2.69
3.99
5.15
6.12
9.41
4.98
Granules and spray average
7.54
8.44
8.88
9.29
10.97
11.95
9.51
Spray average
7.42
8.50
9.14
9.74
11.62
13.34
9.96
Granules average
7.71
8.36
8.52
8.68
10.09
10.09
8.91
The first data recorded on 14 April shows the effect of seed dresser applied to the seed before sowing while in case of other
plots the data were recorded before application of the insecticides as granules and sprays on the same date.
Means of the same category followed by different letters are significant using Fisher protected LSD at the 5 % level of
probability
Infestation in check plots reached about 22%, indicating severe infestation when no control measures were
adopted, whereas, the use of insecticides reduced the seasonal infestation to about 11% which showed that
insecticides reduced the damage by 50% as compared to check plots. The seasonal average of MSB infestations
revealed that all the insecticides controlled MSB as differences between insecticides treated plots and check plots
were significant. Confidor was much better than all the insecticides as its seasonal average of MSB infestation was
the lowest. Regent and Lorsban had the higher MSB infestation as compared to the other insecticides. The three
important meaningful group contrasts show that insecticides used as seed dressers were better than insecticides used
as granules and as spray for the control of MSB. Single degree of freedom contrast between the three insecticides
used as granules and the four insecticides used as spray showed that granules application was better than spray. The
average MSB infestation for the different times after application of insecticides showed that average borer
infestation increased from 6.44% recorded on April 14 to 12.47% on May 14, while in control plots, the infestation
increased from 6.66 to 22.27% during same period. The end of seasonal infestation results showed that Confidor as
seed dressers, Furadan as granules and Imicon as spray are more effective for a longer time.
30.00
25.00
Confidor WS
ActaraWS
Padan3G
Furadan3G
Manomehypo4G
20.00
Check
15.00
10.00
Linear (Padan3G)
Poly.(Furadan3G)
5.00
Confidar = 1.0078T+0.7382R2 = 0.9679
0.00
April14
April15
April21
April28
May5
Linear (Manomehypo4G)
Poly.(Check)
May12
Timeof recordingdataonstemborer
Fig. 1. Trend of average stem borer infestation with time as affected by seed dressers
and granular insecticides application and in check plots of maize planted at
New Develop Farm, Agricultural University, Peshawar.
Manzoor Ahmad Mashwani et al. Efficacy of different insecticides against maize stem borer
462
The interaction between insecticides treatments and times of recording data is significant, the trends of the
MSB infestation with time as affected by the insecticides treatments are presented in (Fig. 1 & 2). Regression line
and original data points for insecticides used as seed dressers, insecticides used as granules and for check plots given
in Fig. 1, showed that linear and polynomial regression fitted the data well as shown by the coefficient of
determination (R2) of the fitted lines; r-square ranged from 0.8418 to 0.9999, indicating 84 to almost 100% of the
total variation in original data points being explained by the regression equations. The intercepts for the seed
dressers are lower than the other treatments because they controlled maize stem borer from the beginning of the
seedlings emergence. The regression coefficient for confidor was 1.0078; the coefficient denotes the slope of the
line which shows that in plots of Confidor, MSB infestation increased at the rate of about 1 per cent per week after
seed treatment with Confidor. The slope for regression line of Confidor was smaller than slope of the line for
Actara, indicating that Confidor had longer action for MSB control. The granules and the check plots trend seem
to have originated from a common point on 14th April, because at that time the granules were not applied. Furadan,
Padan and Monomehypo controlled MSB with minor differences for one to two weeks. Thereafter, slight
differences started which shows that the differences in the efficacy with Furadan having the lowest coefficients
indicating that this insecticide had much more persistent effect over time followed by Padan and Monomehypo.
The same trend is evident from visual observation of the regression lines and from the regression coefficients. The
trend for Furadan looks linear but second-degree polynomial was fitted because the linear regression had very low
R2 (0.0559) and very low regression coefficient. The T2 coefficient for Furadan is very low and that is why the line
looks somewhat linear.
Trends for insecticides used as spray and check plots are given in Fig. 2. The two linear and the three
polynomial regression lines fitted the MSB infestation data very well with coefficient of determination ranging from
0.8122 to 0.9999. Imicon controlled MSB infestation more effectively as compared to other insecticides used as
spray; the linear trend line for Imicon showed that its effect on reduction MSB infestation continued for longer time
as shown by the smallest regression coefficient of 0.2634 among the nine insecticides used in the experiment.
Dipterex also had better control. Almost similar trend lines fitted the MSB infestation data from plots where
Regent and Lorsban had been sprayed; in plots of both of these insecticides the effect of spray started to diminish
after two weeks as the trend line stated to show upward trend and that is why quadratic equation gave a good fit to
the MSB data.
30.00
Imecone25WP
Regent S
25.00
Lorsban
20.00
Diptrex
Check
15.00
Linear(Imecone25WP)
Poly.(Regent S)
10.00
5.00
Imecone=0.2634T+8.3705,R2 =0.8122
April15
April21
April28
May5
Linear(Diptrex)
Poly.(Check)
0.00
April14
Poly.(Lorsban)
May12
Timeof recordingdataonstemborerinfestation
Fig. 2.
Experiment 2
Data on maize stem borer infestation as affected by various insecticides in maize planted at Madyan,
Swat, are given in Table II. The statistical analyses of the data recorded at each stage showed that insecticides had
significant effect on maize stem borer infestation recorded at various dates (Time interval). The combined analysis
of the data showed that insecticides had significant effect on reduction of MSB and significant reduction in percent
infestation was seen among the times of recording data. The interaction between the two factors, insecticides
treatments x times of recording data, was also significant.
463
Table II
Treatments
Percent stem borer infestation of various insecticides in maize planted at Madyan, Swat
Mode of
Jul 16
Jul 30
Aug 15
Aug 30
Sep 15
Application
Confidor
Seed dresser
0.29
0.32
1.29
2.51
3.51
Actara
Seed dresser
0.21
1.12
2.46
3.97
5.42
Furadan
Granules
0.36
1.99
5.84
9.81
11.81
Deltaphos
Spray
0.91
4.00
9.66
15.18
17.71
Check
1.16
4.25
10.26
16.58
19.24
Overall Average
0.59 A
2.34 B
5.90 C
9.61 D
11.54 E
Insecticides Average
0.44
1.86
4.81
7.87
9.61
Seed dressers average
0.25
0.72
1.88
3.24
4.47
LSD for Insecticides = 0.19 LSD for Time Interval = 0.21
LSD for Insecticides x Time Interval = 0.47
Means of the same category followed by different letters are significant using Fisher protected LSD at the 5
probability.
Seasonal
Average
1.58 E
2.64 D
5.96 C
9.49 B
10.30 A
5.99
4.92
2.11
% level of
As compared to the check plots where no insecticides were used, the seed dressers, granules and spray
significantly reduced MBS infestation (seasonal average infestation 10.30 vs. 4.92 and end of seasonal infestation
check vs. insecticides average). The lowest seasonal MSB infestation of 1.58 per cent was recorded in plots in which
seed treated with Confidor had been used during planting, thus Confidor was much better than all the insecticides
for the control of MSB. Actara as seed dresser and Furadan as granules also controlled MSB; however, the use of
Deltaphos as spray was not as effective as the other insecticides for controlling MSB at Madyan. The meaningful
contrasts given in the combined ANOVA showed that insecticides used as seed dressers were better than
insecticides used as granules and spray for the control of MSB; and Furadan used as granules was better than
Deltaphos used as spray. The average MSB infestations at different stages after application of insecticides show
that borer infestation increased from 0.44 % recorded on July 16 to 9.61 percent on September 15, while in control
plots the infestation increased from 1.16 % to 19.24 % during same period of two months. The end of seasonal
infestation shows that seed dressers controlled borer attack to a greater extent, 4.47 averages for seed dressers
compared to 19.24 for check plots.
The time trends of MSB in the plots of different treatments are not the same as shown by significant
insecticide treatments x times interaction Fig. 3. Regression lines and original data points for the 5 treatments show
that linear trends fitted the MSB infestation data well as shown by the high coefficients of determination ranging
from 0.9402 to 0.9923. Insecticides used as seed dressers gave better control of MSB than insecticides used as
granules and spray. The intercepts for all the insecticides in (Fig. 3) are close to zero because the borer infestation in
all the plots was low in the beginning. The fitted line for Confidor had the lowest slope indicating more extended
control of the MSB followed by Actara, which was also used as seed dresser. Furadan also controlled MSB but to
a lesser extent. Deltaphos was not much effective against MSB because its trend line was close to the trend line of
check and the slope for these two treatments were about the same as shown by the regression coefficient of 4.478 for
Deltaphos and 4.849 for check. Generally, there was lower infestation in Swat as compared to Peshawar when
results of the two experiments at the locations are compared.
25.00
C o nfido r
A ct ara
20.00
F uradan
D elt apho s
15.00
C heck
Line ar (C o nf ido r)
Line ar (A ct ara)
10.00
Line ar (F uradan)
Line ar (D elt apho s)
5.00
Line ar (C heck)
0.00
-5.00
197
211
July 16
July 30
227
Aug 15
242
Aug 30
258
Sep 15
Time of recording data on stem borer (day of the year and date)
Fig. 3.
Manzoor Ahmad Mashwani et al. Efficacy of different insecticides against maize stem borer
464
It is evident form the results that there are significant differences among the infestation levels of different
insecticides and control. The results obtained from these two experiments are in agreement with many research
workers (Bhat and Baba, 2007; Ahmad et al., 2002; Javed et al., 1998, Rahman et al., 1998), who also reported
differences among the efficiency of insecticides for the control of maize stem borer. The two field experiments
further revealed that seed dressing with Confidor is superior among the tested insecticides and is recommended as a
control measure against the MSB. The results regarding superiority of Confidor as seed dresser for control of maize
stem borer is in conformity with those of Rehman et al. (1998), who reported that Confidor used as seed dresser
reduced average Maize Stem Borer infestation followed by Deltaphos and Furadan. However, Bhat and Baba
(2007) reported superiority of Carbofuran (Furadan) and Chlorpyrifos (Lorsban), but they used different
formulations and different rates of application. In this study granular application of insecticides was slightly superior
to insecticides used as spray for control of MSB. Similar results on the comparison of granules application in whorl
and foliar application were reported by Bhatt and Baba (2007), who reported that these two treatments recorded
significantly highest yield than rest of all the treatment applications and resulted in maximum net returns. However,
they used Imidacloprid (Confidor) as a foliar application rather then as a seed dresser. While working on the time
and method of Furadan application for controlling MSB, Javed et al. (1998) determined that soil application of
Furadan at the time of sowing along with a 2nd dose as a whorl application 20 days post germination was the most
effective as compared to other treatments.
Differences in the trends of borer infestation of different treatment studied in these experiments as indicated
by regression equation fitted to the data recorded at intervals have also been reported by other workers (Bhat and
Baba 2007; Javed et al., 1998 and Ahmad et al., 2002), though very few fitted regression model have been reported.
The differences in slops of the trend lines indicate the persistency of insecticides. Some insecticides (Seed dressers)
have longer effects than others and the smaller regression coefficient indicate that the effects were more persistent.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It could be concluded that the insecticides resulted in 50% reduction of MSB infestation as compared to
control. Confidor followed by Actara were the most effective among the treatments for causing 97.30 and 88%
reductions in C. partellus infestation as compared to the control.
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