Efficacy of Botanical Biopesticides against sucking Insect pests of Cauliflower

Abstract

Sucking insect pests are important constraints to cauliflower production and can adversely affect plant growth and yield when their populations remain uncontrolled. The present study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of selected botanical biopesticides against major sucking insect pests of cauliflower under field conditions. Four botanical treatments, namely neem powder, neem oil, eucalyptus and datura, were evaluated against whitefly, thrips and aphids, with an untreated control maintained for comparison. Pest populations were recorded before treatment and at 7 and 15 days after each spray, and two applications were made during the crop period. Among the tested treatments, neem powder consistently provided the highest suppression of the major sucking pests. After the first spray, neem powder showed 79.44% efficacy against whitefly, 54.24% against thrips and 81.07% against aphids. Following the second spray, its efficacy increased to 85.54%, 58.95% and 91.43%, respectively. Neem oil ranked second in overall performance, followed by eucalyptus and datura. The untreated control showed the lowest level of pest suppression. Botanical treatments also influenced crop productivity, with the highest cauliflower yield recorded in the neem powder treatment (8,497.14 kg ha⁻¹), followed by neem oil (7,428.57 kg ha⁻¹), eucalyptus (7,142.85 kg ha⁻¹) and datura (5,828.57 kg ha⁻¹), while the untreated control produced 4,857.14 kg ha⁻¹. The findings indicate that neem-based botanicals, particularly neem powder, have considerable potential for suppressing sucking insect pests and improving cauliflower yield and may serve as useful components of integrated pest management programs.