Published Paper Details:

Overutilization of artificial chemical pesticides during the cultivation of sugarcane leads to adverse effects on the soil and ecological systems, as well as development of insect resistance to them, which demands the use of sustainable measures to protect sugarcane. This research is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of environmentally friendly integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for the control of three main sugarcane stem borers, namely, Early Shoot Borer (ESB), Top Shoot Borer (TSB) and Internode Borer (INB) in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh, India throughout the whole cropping season (July 2023-March 2025). The use of Co. 86032 cultivar of sugarcane was practiced along with monitoring of pest dynamics and weather conditions. IPM measures were applied to the crop in accordance with crop growth phases. The control of ESB pests (35-80 DAP) was provided with the help of Trichogrammachilonis (50,000/ha) and ChiloGranulovirus (ChGV) spray resulting in 68.14% reduction of the pest population. More significantly, for extremely resilient INB (120 DAP to harvest), the synergistic interaction of entomopathogenic fungal species (B. bassiana and M. anisopliae), coupled with increased numbers of T. chilonisapplication (100,000/ha), achieved a very significant 73.83% overall reduction in pests. This is a marked improvement over previously conducted separate biocontrol efforts for the management of INB. These results prove that when used timely through phenology-based application, biologicals and botanics exhibit comparable efficacy to synthetic options. Using such an environmentally friendly IPM system will help to ensure sustainable cultivation of sugar cane in the future.