Efficacy of Fenvalerate-Treated Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus and Fluvalinate-Virus Combination in the Control of Helicoverpa armigera (Hbn.) on Chickpea

The usefulness of nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) in the management of Helicoverpa (=Heliothis) armigera Hbn. on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) has been demonstrated through several field experiments (Rabindra and Jayaraj, 1988a ; Rabindra et al., 1989; Rabindra et al., 1992). The virus has been applied along with half the recommended doses of insecticides like endosulfan (Rabindra and Jayaraj, 1988b) and fenvalerate (Sathiah, 1987). Probit analysis of dosage-mortality responses of H. armigera larvae to fenvalerate-treated and untreated NPV showed that the activity of the virus was enhanced due to exposure to fenvalerate (Rabindra et al., 1991). This paper reports the results of a field experiment on the field performance of fenvalerate-treated NPV as well as NPV -fluvalinate combinations in the control of H. armigera on chickpea.