PRASANNA LAKSHMI RAVURI, SAHAJA DEVA AND M.K. JYOSTHNA
Abstract
Mango commonly known as king of fruits in India is reported to be affected by 188 species of insects in India. Pest and disease incidence in mango mainly starts from flowering stage and continues till harvesting. Farmers generally rely upon pesticides to control pests and diseases of mango but over a period of time, due to poor management practices and changing climatic conditions, pest incidence in mango increased rapidly which in turn increased pesticide sprayings. This resulted in increased production cost and pesticide residues on fruit which is a major hurdle for mango export and also few pests like fruit fly cannot be controlled by insecticides alone. Hence, on farm trial was conducted during summer, 2022 to assess the performance of fruit bags in reducing pests and diseases of mango against farmers practice i.e., spraying of pesticides. Fruit bagging method effectively controlled fruit fly, thrips and bacterial black spot diseases whereas in farmers practice 11.28%, 2.17% and 23.22% were recorded respectively despite of regular sprayings. There is a significant difference between fruit bagging and farmers practice and fruit bagging method found to be best in reducing pest and disease incidence. Higher yield was recorded in fruit bagging, i.e. 9 t/ha whereas in farmers practice it was 7.5t/ha. Even though cost of production is high in fruit bagging i.e., Rs 104000/- hectare due to good market price to bagged fruits, farmers got more net returns i.e., Rs 3,42,300/- hectare. Reduced sweetness in the fruit and difficulty in bagging of all the fruits in older trees are the cons in fruit bagging method. Overall, pre harvest fruit bagging found to be one of the best management practice in mango which not only reduces pest and disease incidence but also to get higher yield and quality fruits.