Insecticide Resistance in Chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis in Andhra Pradesh

摘要

Chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis (Hood) is a serious pest of Chilli, Capsicum annuum L. in India, responsible for leaf curling (Ananthakrishnan, 1971, Rao and Ahmed, 1985). It multiplies appreciably at a faster rate during dry weather periods andthe yield loss caused by the thrips is reported to range from 30-90 per cent (Borah, 1987 and Varadharajan, 1994).Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh is traditionally a chilli growing area and intensive cultivation of input responsive high yielding varieties and hybrids and sole reliance on insecticides are the common features of chilli cultivation in this district. The indiscriminate use of insecticides has accelerated insect control problems through development of insecticide resistance (Reddy et al., 1992), pest resurgence, pesticide residues (Joia et al., 2001), reduction in natural enemy population and environmental contamination. Hence, efforts were made to study the development of insecticide resistance in Chilli thrip vis a vis commonly used insecticides on this crop.