Title : Cow urine enriched botanicals: Green weapon against golden fly in muskmelon
Abstract:
Muskmelon is native to Persia, Iran and a secondary center including the northwest provinces of India including Kashmir. In India, its popularly known as Kharbujam in SANSKRIT. High fiber and water content are a great natural healer for people suffering from indigestion, constipation and other digestive issues. Rich source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants help to keep human body healthy and radiant. Muskmelon is so named because of the delighful odor of the ripe fruits. Melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae a dipterous fly popularly known as SONERI MAKHI (Golden fly) among farmers is a serious and economic threat of muskmelon in India. The first report on melon fruit fly was published by Bezzi (1993) in India. The extent of losses varies between 30 to 100% depending on the cultivar and the season. Adult female lays egg under the fruit rind in mass. Hatched out maggots tunnel through the flesh as they feed and allow decay to easily spread through the fruit. The injudicious uses of agrochemicals proved fatal for lives and environment on the earth. According to Ayurded, extract of any plant drug in cow urine increases the potency of drug to many folds. Keeping in view, the present research work was planned using locally available phyto-extracts enriched with cow urine against the melon fly infesting muskmelon. Leaf extract of Azadirachta indica, Parthenium hysterophorus, Annona squamosa, Ipomoea carnea, Lantana camara, Jatropha gossypifolia, Clerodendrum phlomidis and calotropis gigantea were evaluated. Equal quantity of leaves of different botanicals (gm) were mixed in fresh water (ml) and kept overnight. Next day the leaves with water crushed thoroughly in grinder and filtered with fine muslin cloth. This filtrates was used as stalk solution to enrich cow urine @ 10% + 10% with normal water. The first spray was imposed on initiation of pest and subsequent two spray were executed at 10 days interval. The observations on fruit damage (%) were recorded before and 10 days after each spray. The healthy fruits yield (q/ha) was also recorded. Among the various treatments, cow urine + Azadirachta indica leaf extract (10% + 10%) proved as green, eco-friendly and acuminated weapon against melon fly recording least fruit damage (5.38 %) and producing higher fruit yield (81.62 q/ha) of muskmelon.
