Impacts of safer strategies for management of chilli pests with emphasis on under-storey repellent crop

Some safer strategies were designed and evaluated for management of apical leaf curling (ChiLCV) in chilli Capsicum annum L. and its vectors. The strategies were designed emphasizing on the repellent crop theory and the components like physical barrier, adult-trapping, plant sanitation, foliar application of phytochemicals and minimal application of synthetic organic pesticide. The crop was infested by some sucking pests namely, Chilli thrips Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, aphid Aphis gossypii Glover, yellow mite Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) and whitefly Bemsia tabaci (Gennadius). However, the populations of aphid and whiteflies were low and leaf curl virus which is vectored by any of the above creatures, did not appear in the present studies. Some management strategies were devised to suppress the pest populations as well as their damage and obtain good yields. However, strategies with phytochemical-based treatments which utilized neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) and rose apple Syzygium Jambos leaf extract (rose apple LE), could not offer satisfactory protection and yield was also quite low. But when these treatments had the support of a limited quantity of synthetic/semi-synthetic pesticides like emamectin benzoate (one application) and chlorfenapyr (one application) along with the plant fractions, showed much better suppression of pest populations like thrips and yellow mite as well as apical leaf curling intensity (0.94–1.12%). In all the treatments except chemical check and untreated check, some components were utilized as common part and these were: yellow sticky trap, repellent cropping with coriander and holy basil and plant sanitation. The strategies effectively suppressed the landing response and development of the pest populations which resulted in lower crop damages and sponsored good yields. These were safer to non-target beneficial creatures, cost-effective and comparable to chemical method.