Bioefficacy of cow urine based eco-friendly formulations against Spilarctia obliqua (Walker)

Abstract

The laboratory studies were conducted to assess the bio-efficacy of cow urine and jatropha seed extracts prepared in water and cow urine (@ 5% and @10% against different stages of Spilarctia obliqua. The cent per- cent mortality of neonate larvae was observed in jatropha seed water extract @10% followed by significantly less larval survival in cow urine @10% (13.35%), jatropha seed cow urine extract @10% (16.64%) in comparison to untreated control (93.32%).Similarly cent per cent larval mortality of 7 days old larvae was observed in JSWE @ 10% and JSCUE @10% with significantly less growth index in JSCUE 5% (0.66), JSWE@5%( 0.67), CU @10% (0.88) and CU @5% ( 0.99) with 2.23 growth index in untreated control. For 14 days old larvae the mean leaf area consumed and larval weight was observed significantly very less in JSWE@10% with cent percent larval mortality followed by JSCUE@10% and cow urine treatments. Similarly, regarding antifeedant activity of eco-friendly formulations according to the calculated preference indices, the strong antifeedant action was showed by JSWE@10% (0.50) followed by JSCUE@10% (0.55)and JSWE@5% (0.60) showed moderately antifeedant action with slight antifeedant action in JSCUE@5% (0.81) and cow urine @10% ( 0.82) and CU@5%(0.85). These observations clearly demonstrated the efficacy of cow urine based eco-friendly formulations against S. obliqua under laboratory conditions which indicated the potential of cow urine based formulations which are eco-friendly, easily prepared and low cost organic approach for sustainable agriculture.