Comparison of Efficacy of Synthetic Pesticides with Botanical Extracts under Field Condition on Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris brassicae)

Abstract

Cabbage white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) is one of the important insect pests of cabbage crop which causes remarkable quantitative or qualitative crop losses. The research was conducted at Hazara Agricultural research station, Abbottabad (Pakistan) to study the effect of different new chemical insecticides, botanical oil and neem seed oil (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) on the population density of P. brassicae. The study showed that neem oil had a significant effect on population of P. brassicae in comparison to control treatment. So, neem oil alone or in combination with insecticides can be used for control of P. brassicae in vegetable crops for a safer food supply.