Monitoring for Pest & Disease

• Organise regular pest and disease monitoring and assess bio-control potential at 15 days intervals.
• Observations are taken at every 5 to 10 km distance, 10 spots per ha randomly and 10 plants per spot.
• Install pheromone traps 10 per ha to monitor moth population of Helicoverpa and Spodoptera  litura.  

Pre-sowing stage 

• Deep summer ploughing
• Clean cultivation
• Seed treatment with T. harzianum of T. viride @ 4 g/kg seed for diseases.
• Soil application of Verticillium chlonydosperium @ 2 Kg/ha along with compost followed by irrigation for nematode management.

Sowing stage

• Use resistant varieties
• Use certified disease free seed
• Early sowing
• Sow the crop in ridges at 15-20 cm height in cutworm endemic areas.
• Use mechanical devices to scare parakeets.
• Rogue downy mildew and sunflower necrosis disease infected plants and destroy them.

Vegetative stage 

• Conserve biocontrol agents like Cotesia spp., spiders, anthocorids, Chrysopa, Lady bird beetles, mandits and reduvid bugs.
• Install 15 bird perches per hectare for predatory birds.
• Release 1-2 larva per plant of Chrysoperla carnea at early stage of crop.

Flowering stage

• Use NPV @ 250 LE/ha against Helicoverpa and Spodoptera .
• Use B.t. (K) 1 kg/ha against Spodoptera.
• Release 1-2 larva per plant of Chrysoperla carnea at early stage of crop
• Conserve bio-control agents like Cotesia spp., spiders, anthocorids, Chrysopa, Lady bird beetles, mandits and reduvid bugs.