Antifeedant activity of some plants of North-Western Himalayas against cabbage caterpillar, Pieris brassicae (L.)

Antifeedant activity of petroleum ether extracts of five plant species viz., leaves of big sage brush, Artemisia brevifolia Wall.; cypress weed, Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng, wild sage, Lantana camera L.; chinaberry, Melia azedarach (L.) and roots of broad leaf dock, Rumex nepalensis evaluated against third instar caterpillars of cabbage butterfly, Pieris brasslcae (L.) exhibited complete cessation of feeding at 5.0 per cent concentration. Moderate to high reduction in feeding was resulted varying from 89.43–95.83, 75.50–88.90 and 52.97–75.17 per cent at lower concentrations of 2.5, 1.25 and 0.625 per cent respectively. Among five plant species evaluated, A. brevifolia extracts resulted in significantly high antifeedant activity followed by R. nepalensis and M. azedarach. All the plant extracts also exhibited moderate reduction in the larval weight after 24 hours of feeding.