ECO-FRIENDLY MANAGEMENT AGAINST INSECT PESTS OF BOTTLE GOURD WITH THE EMPHASIS ON INTERCROPPING AND DIFFERENT TRAPS

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the central farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh to evaluate the eco-friendly management against insect pests of bottle gourd with the emphasis on intercropping and different traps during the period from November, 2020 to April, 2021. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Seven treatments, viz. Treatment T 1 = Intercropping with Red amaranth + Pheromone trap; T 2 = Field Sanitation + Pheromone trap; T 3 = Intercropping with Coriander + Funnel Pheromone trap; T 4 = Intercropping with Tomato + Pheromone trap; T 5 = Field Sanitation + Funnel Pheromone trap; T 6 = Intercropping with Spinach + Funnel Pheromone trap and T 7 = Sole crop (Untreated control) were included in this study. In case of different treatments performance, T 3 (Intercropping with Coriander + Funnel Pheromone trap) showed the best results in terms of incidence of insect pest of bottle gourd, number of beneficial insects per plot, number of infested or healthy leaves per plot, number of infested fruits per plot, number of healthy fruits per plot, length of single fruit (cm), girth of single fruit (cm), single fruit weight (kg), total number of fruits/plants, weight of healthy fruits and infested fruits, yield per plot and total yield (ton/ha). In term of total number of fruits/plants, the highest number of fruits/plant (24.5) was recorded from T 3 treatment was closely similar with other treatments except untreated control respectively. In term of yield of total fruits, the highest yield of total fruits (78.1 t/ha) was observed in T 3 treatment which was closely similar with other treatments except untreated control. There was negative relationship present in incidence of insect pest of bottle gourd with the yield of bottle gourd. From the study, it may be concluded that treatment T 3 showed more efficacy of different treatments for the eco-friendly management against insect pests of bottle gourd with the emphasis on intercropping and different traps which was followed by treatment T 1 ii .