Management of potato leaf hopper (Amrasca devastans Dist.) with biopesticides in comparison with conventional pesticides on autumn potato crop

Considering the importance of organic farming and the demand for safe food globally,the experiments regarding the performance evaluation of biopesticides (biosal-neem formulation and bacterial derived spinosad) in comparison with conventional insecticides (imidacloprid,endosulfan and profenofos) were carried out against potato leaf hopper on autumn potato crop. the crop was sown in a randomized complete block design (rcbd) with three replicates each having six treatments including control. the crop was sprayed when the insect population reached at economic threshold level (etl). pre treatment insect count was recorded before 24 hours and post treatment data were collected after 24,72 and 168 hours of spray. in this manner the data for three sprays were collected. the data were computed to percent efficacy using henderson-tilton formula. all the conventional insecticides were found effective against potato leaf hopper. the order of effectiveness was found to be imidacloprid> endosulfan> profenofos i.e. 88.59,73.32,and 64.87% respectively. biosal showed moderate effectiveness (55.91%),while spinosad exerted least affects with 15.63% reduction in potato leaf hopper population. copyright 2012 zoological society of pakistan.