Evaluation of the Efficacy of Two Microbial Insecticides, Bacillus thuringiensis in the Control of Chickpea Pod Borer Helicoverpa spp.

One of the main problems in the production of chickpeas in most of the provinces where chickpea is cultivated including west and north-west provinces is the general and specific pests, including chickpea pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera. This project was conducted in a randomized complete block design in Kermanshah and Lorestan provinces with seven treatments in three replications. Treatments included, Lofenuron 2 l/1000 l , Roy Agro 1 l/1000 l , Biolep P 1 l/1000 l , insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis Ber, (Biotech Indian)  with three doses of 1000, 600 and 400 grams per hectare. The efficacy of the insecticides was investigated 3 and 7 days after the treatment, and the number of damaged pods was recorded at the mentioned time intervals, and the percentage of damage of the pods was calculated. The results showed that the treatments were significantly different in efficacy and the percentage of damage and B. thuringiensis-based insecticides were statistically effective (75 to 81%) in controlling chickpea pod borer after seven days.  Biolep P biological pesticide showed 68.79 and 81.27% and Bt (Biotech India) 74.59 and 79.99% efficacy in Lorestan and Kermanshah provinces respectively. There was no significant difference in efficacy percentage between the biological pesticides and Roy Agro pesticide. The biopesticide Biolep showed no significant difference in terms of efficacy and damage percentage in comparison with the Biotech India biopesticide. The results show that if the pest is not controlled (control), the percentage of damage on chickpea pods is about 40%, but with the use of biological pesticides, this damage could be reduced to less than 10%.