Impact of areawide integrated pest management strategies on pests of pigeonpea and yield in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, India

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] is an important legume crop of southern Maharashtra, providing high quality protein and animal feed. Insect pests feeding on flowers and pods of this crop are the most important biotic constraint affecting yield to the tune of 60 per cent. Hitherto, focus of pest management research has been on podborer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner). With large scale cultivation of transgenic cotton in Maharashtra and climatic changes, pest scenario has changed requiring more attention on leaf webber, Maruca and pod fly. Hence, area wide implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in pigeopea was implemented during 2010-11 and 2011-12 covering 5 taluks benefitting 2449 farmers of 8 villages. It was observed that use of pesticides based on the “e-Pest monitoring and its subsequent decision support tools” enabled to manage pests with judicious use of pesticides. The pest infestation (pod borer, pod fly, plume moth, flower webber, etc.,) were significantly low as compared to non-IPM with appreciable high population of natural enemies (coccinellids, chrysopa and spiders) were also observed under IPM fields. Timely dissemination of advisories and action has resulted in higher grain yield of 9.89 q/ha and lower grain damage 5.69 per cent as compared to non-IPM (13.79 per cent).