The experiment on integrated management of Helicoverpa armigera infesting chickpea was conducted during rabi season of 2008-2009 at the Instructional Farm of Karmaveer Kakasaheb Wagh College of Agriculture, Nashik on two varieties viz., Digvijay and Vihar comprising of 1200m2 blocks each for IPM and conventional method of pest control separately keeping proper isolation from each other, with the main object to demonstrate the students of the college and visiting farmers regarding the impact of IPM strategy in management of the pest. Observations were recorded before harvesting by counting the infested pods by gram pod borer and healthy pods on randomly selected 100 plants from each block. An average per cent infested pod in each block was worked out. Similarly, the yield of each block were recorded at harvest and converted on hectare basis. The cost of inputs pertaining to plant protection strategies was worked out. The net profit and cost benefit ratio was worked out taking into consideration of the plant protection inputs.
The average incidence of H. armigera in IPM block was 9.30 and 9.60 per cent as against 16.50 and 15.45 per cent in conventional method (chemical control) block in the varieties Vihar and Digvijay , respectively, which indicated that there was 43.63 and 37.86 per cent reduction in pest incidence in the respective varieties due to adoption of IPM strategy. Similarly, there was 39.27 and 34.68 per cent increase in yield in IPM block as compared to conventional method block of the respective varieties.
The gross monetary returns were to the tune of ` 42990/- and ` 38940/- per hectare in case of IPM block as compared to ` 31920/- and ` 27960/- in conventional method of pest control in the varieties Vihar and Digvijay, respectively. The net monetary returns were ` 39562/- and ` 35299/- in IPM block as against ` 29284/- and ` 25187/- in conventional block in the respective varieties. Thus, there was net benefit of ` 10278/- and ` 10112/- in the Vihar and Digvijay varieties of gram due to adoption of IPM strategies. However, there was negligible increase in C:B ratio in IPM as compared to conventional method taking into consideration of plant protection inputs only due to the addition expenditure in IPM block.