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Management of Thrips on Capsicum by Entomo-pathogen, Metarhizium anisopliae

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Potential biological control agents such as entomo-pathogens were isolated and their bio efficacy was tested. The present biological control strategy developed by using Metarhizium  ansiopliae which  is  effective and   non-chemical, pesticide free, eco-friendly, conserves bio- diversity and  no phytotoxicity was recorded. This is a naturally occurring organism that is prepared using chickpea, plant oil and adjuvants. Application of M.anisopliae @  1x107 spores/ml resulted in significantly higher yield of capsicum (3.1kg/plant) and low incidence of thrips (3.6/plant) copared to the control (0.825kg/plant and 11.42 thrips/plant). This oil based formulation has more than a year of shelf life compared to the commercial formulations.