Description

Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) is one of the most important insect pest causes serious damage to chickpea crop. Attempts were made to develop a biopesticide by using an insect pathogen Helicoverpa nuclear polyhedrosis virus (HNPV) to control the malicious insect chickpea pod borer. The best adjuvant was HNPV + chickpea flour (0.5%) in order to achieve the highest mortality of H. armigera and to produce the highest amount of high titre HNPV suspension. Among all the synthetic and biopesticides, the biocontrol agent HNPV showed the best performance against pod borer management in chickpea. A large scale production of HNPV could be possible through mass rearing of H. armigera larvae in laboratory condition. Ciprofloxacin (25 mg/l), cephradine (25 mg/l), ethanol (10%) and acetone (10%) were useful as preservatives during storage in order to induce malodour formation and to increase shelf life.