Documentation of insecticide usage pattern among Bt cotton farmers in major cotton growingareas of Karnataka

Abstract

Survey was carried out during 2016-17 and 2017-18 in major cotton growing districts of Karnataka viz., Dharwad,Haveri, Shivamogga, Ballari and Mysuru which revealed that as many as 34 insecticides of which six commercially availablecombi products, nine tank mix combination of insecticides and one plant product were used by farmers for the managementof insect pests on Bt cotton. In Ballari district, 25 different insecticides, five commercially available combination productsand one neem based botanical insecticide were used by the farmers. While the Dharwad farmers used 21 different insecticidesand Haveri farmers used 23 different insecticides. Shivamogga farmers used 16 different insecticides in Bt cotton ecosystem.The least number of 15 insecticides were used in Mysuru district. In Dharwad and Shivamogga districts, the total numberof sprays ranged from one to two with a spray interval of 15 to 20 days where as Mysuru district farmers sprayed theBt cotton one to two times at 20-30 days spray interval. In Haveri and Ballari, number of sprays ranged from two to threewith 15-20 and three to five with 10-15 days interval, respectively during both the years. In all the districts, imidaclopridand diafenthiuron formulations were the commonly used and acephate was the primary choice of insecticide against suckingpests in all districts. In Ballari district, flonicamide and acephate + imidacloprid combi product were the major insecticideformulations used against the sucking pest in Bt cotton. For the application of insecticides, manual knapsack sprayers werewidely used except in the irrigated cotton growing areas of Ballari district in which petrol operated knapsack powersprayers were extensively used by the farmers of Ballari district as efficient and labour saving equipment.