Economic analysis of sustainable IPM technology for onion seed crop in a farmers’ led approach

A field experiment was conducted during 2013–14 and 2014–15 at Karnal, Haryana with a view to develop and validate adaptable IPM technology and study its economic viability for onion seed crop in a farmers’ led approach. The IPM technology comprising of mainly dipping the seed bulb in carbendazim 50 WP (0.1%) + carbosulfan 25 EC (0.2%), need based spray of profenophos 50 EC (0.1%) in November after sprouting against thrips, prophylactic spray with mancozeb 75 WP (0.25%) and need based spray with carbendazim (12%) + mancozeb 63% (0.2%)/hexaconazole 5 EC (0.1%)/propiconazole 25 EC (0.1%) against Stemphylium blight during February-March-April, application of biopesticide/nereistoxin analogue cartap hydrochloride 4 G or spray of spinosad 45 SC @ 75 g a.i. ha−1 against thrips during March, installation of pheromone traps against borer for monitoring Helicoverpa armigera and spray of HaNPV @ 250 LE/ha and keeping fields clean to reduce thrips population with a view to contain iris yellow spot virus, was very effective in reducing the incidence of pests and minimizing the yield losses. The adoption of IPM technology, resulted in reducing the number of chemical sprays to 12–14 from 25–27 with higher onion seed yields of 6.62 and 6.25 q/ha in IPM compared to 5.85 and 5.20 q/ha in non-IPM fields and with marginally higher CBR of 1:10.87 and 1:10.56 in IPM than 1:9.10 and 1:8.19, respectively in non-IPM fields. There was a net income increase of Rs. 1,61,675 and 2,18,638/ha in IPM fields over non-IPM ones.