POLLINATORS AND EFFECT OF BIO-PESTICIDES ON MAJOR PESTS OF SUNFLOWER

Investigations on "Studies on sunflower pollinators and efficacy of biopesticides against major insect pests of sunflower" were carried out in College of Agriculture Parbhani, VNMKV, Maharashtra during rabi, 2022. Insect diversity study on sunflower variety Ajeet-531 revealed that the crop was visited by twelve species of insect viz., Apis mellifera, Apis dorsata, A. florea, Trigona iridipennis and Xylocopa fenestrate, Ischipdon scutallaris, Danaus plexippus, Amata bicincta, Pieris rapae, Papilio demoleus,Chielomenes sexmaculata and one green lacewing species. In efficacy of NSKE5% proved best treatment in reducing larval population followed by Bacillus thuringiensis 0.2%, Beauveria bassiana, PSKE 5% and Metarhizium anisopliae.NSKE5% yielded higher (11.00 q/ha) followed by Bacillus thuringiensis (10.83q/ha).When considering the economics of treatments, highest cost benefit ratio was obtained in Bacillus thuringiensis(1:8.73) followed by Beauveria bassiana (1:7.00) and NSKE5% (1:6.97).In seasonal incidence study it was observed that head borer, H.armigerawas found major pest species whereas sucking pests like jassids, Amrasca bigutulla bigutulla, whitefly Bemisia tabaci.