Bioefficacy of Animal Urine Based Formulations against Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) and Spilartia obliqua (Walker) at Pantnagar, Uttarakhand – A Novel Approach

To evaluate the bioefficacy of animal urine based formulations i.e. Cow urine collected from Desi, Holstein and Jersey breeds, Buffalo urine, Ox urine, Goat urine and Horse urine @ 20% and animal urine based neem leaf extracts @5% against Spodoptera litura and Spilarchia obliqua, laboratory experiments were conducted for the first time in Department of Entomology, GBPUAT, Pant Nagar, Uttarakhand during 2017. The growth and development studies clearly showed the efficacy of Desi cow urine, Goat Urine, Horse urine and all animal urine based neem leaf extracts against 7days old larvae of S. litura and S. obliqua as all larvae died in treated castor leaves. Among the other treatments, significantly less survival and reduce weights of larvae, pupae and adults were recorded with extended developmental period and very less growth index values in comparison to untreated control. Antifeedant activity of animal urine based formulations showed that Goat urine, Desi cow urine neem leaf extract(DCUNLE) and Goat urine neem leaf extract (GUNLE) were found with strong antifeedant action with preference index between (0.46-0.48) against 4th instar larvae of S. litura whereas Goat urine, DCUNLE, GUNLE, Ox urine neem leaf extract (OUNLE), Baffalo urine neem leaf extract (BUNLE) and Horse urine neem leaf extract (HUNLE) showed strong antifeedant activity with preference indices (0.26 to 0.49) against 4th instar larvae of S. obliqua. Thus, these preliminary studies clearly demonstrated the potential of animal urine based formulations for eco-friendly management of noxious pests, S. litura and S. obliqua.