Efficacy of different essential oils on trap catches of sap feeders in chilli

Abstract

Chilli, Capsicum annum L. is one of the important vegetable crops grown across the country and infested by a wide range of insect pests. Semiochemical mediated insect communication is very important and forms the basis for many eco-friendly pest management methods. In 2012-14, field studies were carried out in chilli crop at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, on the attraction of different insect pests to the essential oils such as eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, ethyl nicotinate, dodecyl acetate and jasmone along with castor oil at the dilution of 1:0.1 ratio of castor oil. The results on the number of insects trapped in 2012-13 showed that, at 10 days after treatment (DAT), thrips were highly attracted than other sap feeders and on jasmone, highest trap catches (61.2 insects) followed by 36.4, 30.6 and 30.4 on dodecyl acetate, cinnamaldehyde and eugenol, respectively were recorded. However, on 20 and 30 DAT, the attraction of insects was found to be less. In 2013-14 also, the attraction was more towards jasmone and aphids (173) and thrips (320) contributed to the maximum trap catches than other insects. On 10 DAT, the maximum of 56.4 numbers of thrips were trapped in jasmone whereas on 20 and 30 DAT,the attraction of insects was found to be less. Results of paired t test did not show significant differences among mean trap catches of all the insects during 2012-13 and 2013-14.