Cultivation of Pesticide Free Cabbage and Cauliflower using ICAR-IIHR Neem seed Powder Pellet Formulation

October is the time for planting Winter crops and Cabbage and cauliflower are important cole crops grown extensively in India. These crops have severe incidences of insect pests like Diamond Back Moth, Leaf Webber, Aphids, Stem borer and Spodoptera. The head or the curd gets eaten and that deteriorates the quality of the vegetable. Many eco-friendly IPM technologies have been developed to manage these pests by incorporating trap crops, botanicals like neem and biological control in India. Through IPM technology synthetic insecticide usage would be minimized or avoided.

The Agriculture World Editor, Dr Lakshmi Unnithan was in talks with Dr Prasanna Kumar, Division of Plant Protection, IIHR and he speaks about a formulation developed by ICAR-IIHR involving neem seed powder called neem seed powder pellet formulation (NSPPF) which is very much effective on DBM and aphids. Since NSPPF has got azadiractin which is very much effective on wide range of pests. It has got multi mode of actions on insects says Dr Prasanna Kumar. Without spraying of synthetic insecticides, successful management of DBM and aphids on cabbage has been achieved. This technology has been demonstrated successfully in National Horticultural Fair for the past 4 years. The technical know-how to use the NSPPF in management of cabbage and cauliflower pests is given below and it needs to be practiced by farmers all over India.

Procedure 

1. Raise seedlings in pro-trays under net house conditions wherever such facility is available

2. Spraying of NSPP should be started from 15 days after transplantation of the seedlings

3. The NSPPF @ 30g/l has to be soaked in water over night (for one acre 6 kg of NSPP is

required)

4. Next day before start of spraying filter the extract using muslin cloth/net and measure the

volume of the extract

5. Adjust the volume and spray on the crop along with spreader/sticker

6. While spraying care has to be taken to provide sufficient coverage on the growing portion

of the plant

7. Repeat the spray at every 7-10 days interval and up to 50 DAT for cabbage and 70 DAT

for cauliflower. Later spray can be taken up if required.

Recently a cauliflower farmer, Mr. Harish from Madappanahalli Village, Yelahanka Hobli, Bengaluru has taken up the ICAR-IIHR’s NSPPF technology on cauliflower under the guidance of Dr. Prasannakumar, N.R., scientist, ICAR-IIHR

Impact of the Technology

The farmer was very happy for adopting the technology and expressed his opinion as below. By using NSPPF the number of sprays were brought down from 20 sprays to 7-8 sprays. Previously, he was spending about Rs. 35000/- towards purchase of insecticides for coveringv0.5 acre of cauliflower for the managing DBM and aphids.

By adopting ICAR-IIHR’s NSPPF technology he saved Rs. 25000/- of insecticide cost as the NSPPF costs only Rs. 250/- kg and he spent Rs. 9000/- for his entire crop. The size and quality of the NSPPF treated curd was superior than insecticide treated curd. The farmer has earned a profit of Rs. 1 lakh from 0.5 acre of cauliflower by adopting ICAR-IIHR’s Neem seed Powder Pellet formulation.

The field was visited on 9/7/2020 by Dr. M.R. Dinesh, Director, ICAR-IIHR., Dr. M. Krishna Reddy, Head (I/C), Division of Crop Protection, Dr. V. Jayaraghavendra Rao, Head (I/C), Division of Social Sciences and Extension and team of Scientists from the institute. The Director, ICAR-IIHR was appreciated the impact of the technology and efforts of the scientists. He witnessed on successful management of management of insect pests and increase in yield without comprising the quality. The residue analysis was carried out at ICAR-IIHR and found no significant residue on the produce. He suggested all the farmers to adopt such low cost ecofriendly technologies from ICAR-IIHR to get maximum benefit. He also expressed that the technology has to reach maximum cabbage and cauliflower growers of the country for the production of pesticide free produce in the country.

Image and Content Courtesy:
Dr Prasanna Kumar, H.R. Ranganath, P. Shivarama Bhat and S. Saroja
Division of Crop protection, ICAR-IIHR, Hessarghatta Lake, Bengaluru-560089
Email: prasannakumar.nr@icar.gov.in