Assessment of Farmer’s Perception on Pesticide Usage Pattern and Knowledge on Pest Management in Amaranthus in Coimbatore District

Amaranthus is a protein rich grain that is commonly cultivated as a leafy vegetable. Insect pests (63.2%), marketing (22.4%) and weather parameters (14.4%) acted as the major constraints in amaranthus production. Among the constraints, infestation by numerous insect pests that feed on different plant parts such as stem, leaves, flowers and seeds had greater negative impact on amaranthus production. A total number of 92 insect pests from 11 different orders have been documented in cultivated amaranthus. Among them, the leaf webber, Hymenia recurvalis Fab. (Crambidae : Lepidoptera) and stem weevil, Hypolixus truncatulus (Curculionidae: Coleoptera) were considered as major threat to the farmers. Leaf webber, H. recurvalis caused the maximum damage through webbing and defoliation up to 8.8%. Stem weevil, H. truncatulus resulted in 12.6% damage, while, the damage was up to 7.3% due to white grub, the root feeder. Almost all the amaranthus farmers relied on chemical pesticides for the management of insect pests of amaranthus. A field survey on pesticide usage pattern in amaranthus was undertaken in three amaranthus growing blocks of Coimbatore district viz., Sultanpet, Karamadai and Thondamuthur. Most of the farmers (73.3 %) used chlorantraniliprole for managing the insect pests infesting amaranthus. Around 66 per cent of the farmers used organic pesticide (Exodus) as an alternate next to chlorantraniliprole. Percentage of farmers using imidacloprid, flubendiamide, panchakavya and jeevamrutham for crop protection represent 53.3, 33.3 and 13.3 per cent, respectively.