Insecticide Usage Pattern in Jasmine of Southern Tamil Nadu

Jasmine cultivation is considered a quickly developing business in India. Jasmine is one of the oldest traditional flowers grown in India. It is infested by a number of insects and mite pests. Available scientific literature shows that not much information is available on insecticide usage pattern in jasmine. Hence, a region oriented study was undertaken to study the insecticide usage pattern of jasmine growers in Southern districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The results revealed that more than 50 percent of the farmers believed that jasmine budworm (100.00 %), blossom midge (73.33 %), red spider mite (66.67 %), and leaf webworm (63.33 %) are the notable important insect pests in jasmine. The major insect pests of jasmine warranting insecticide application in order of importance as perceived by the respondent farmers were, jasmine budworm (100.00 %) > blossom midge (73.33 %) > red spider mite (66.67 %) > leaf webworm (63.33 %) > thrips (50.00 %) and whitefly (30.00 %). The insecticides viz., cypermethrin 4 EC (100.00 %), imidacloprid 17.8 SL (88.95 %), fenpyroximate 5 EC (83.79 %), monocrotophos 36 WSC (83.14 %), and profenophos 50 EC (80.00 %) were the most applied insecticides on jasmine in Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts of Tamil Nadu. High volume knapsack sprayer (40.69 %) was the widely used sprayer for spraying insecticides in the jasmine garden. Seventy-eight percent of the farmers relied solely on insecticide spray for the management of insect pests in jasmine and the rest of the farmers (23.66 %) were using panchagavya followed by neem product (15.03 %). The majority of the farmers (80.00 %) were not using surfactants along with insecticides. Jasmine growers mostly derived diagnostic advice and recommendation from Agro input dealer (42.87 %) which is located in nearby areas. Media like television (46.27 %), newspaper (31.70 %) and FM Radio (10.88 %) also provided pesticide recommendations to the jasmine farmers.