Plant protection measures to promote organic farming in Nepal: prospects and challenges

Organic farming is a production system that relies on ecosystem management rather than external agricultural inputs to sustain the health of soils, ecosystem and organisms. This needs enough organic plant protection measures and biological fertilizers by eliminating synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. An attempt was made to review current plant protection measures for organic farming in Nepal. Though some insect pests and diseases are very hard to control without the use of chemical pesticides, this is high time to produce agriculture products organically. There is ample prospect of organic production in Nepal utilizing traditional knowledge of Nepalese farmers and existing agri-biodiversity. The paper is focused on best utilization of local natural resources, indigenous knowledge and bio-control agents for plant protection in organic agriculture. The information related to organic plant protection measures are collected from various sources and are grouped. The authors have listed technologies on organic plant protection measures in Nepal and made some suggestions to improve the organic farming of the country

Efficacy of commercial insecticides for cowpea pod borer (Maruca vitrata F.) management in Pokhara, Nepal

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata Walp.) is a major grain legume used as vegetables and pulses. Among the several insect pest of cowpea, spotted pod borer is one of the most destructive pest. To evaluate the available chemical pesticides for pod borer management, a set of field experiments on cowpea variety Malepatan-1 were conducted at Horticulture Research Station, Malepatan, Pokhara in years 2019 and 2020. The experiments were laid out in Completely Randomized Block Design (RCBD) having seven  treatments viz.Flubendiamide 39.35 % SC @ 0.3 mL/L, Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 % SC @ 0.2 mL/L, Emamectin benzoate 5 % SG @0.3 g/L, Spinosad 45 % SC @0.3 mL/L, Bacillus thuringiensis Kurstaki @2g/L, Azadirechtin 0.03%@ 5mL/L and Control with four replications. Flubendiamide 39.35 % SC @ 0.3 mL/L and Emamectin benzoate 5 % SG @0.3 g/L were found the most effective insecticides in lowering cowpea flower and pod damage with highest benefit cost ratio; however, considering environment, Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 % SC @ 0.2 mL/L and Spinosad 45 % SC @0.3 mL/L being next effective treatments could be viable option to manage spotted pod borer in cowpea production.  &nbsp

New Country Records and Annotated Checklist of the Dacine Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini) of Nepal

Preliminary surveys for Dacine fruit flies were carried out in May 2015 and June 2017, with male lure (cue-lure, methyl eugenol, zingerone) traps maintained at 55 sites, (110–1,780 m elevation range), comprised mostly of Nepal Agricultural Research Council research stations. Twenty species were collected, including 11 new country occurrence and 2 new male lure association records. The most common species were fruit pests Bactrocera dorsalis (60.4% of all captures) and B. zonata (15.2%), and cucurbit pests Zeugodacus tau (9.5%) and Z. cucurbitae (8.7%). We present an annotated checklist of the 26 species now known to occur in Nepal, including 5 fruit and 6 cucurbit pests