H. K. RATHORE, A. K. VYAS, O. P. AMETAAND A. MURDIA

An experiment on the estimation of losses due to insect pests in pigeonpea was conducted following the paired plot design at the Instructional Farm of Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, during kharif, 2014. The insect pests infestation significantly influenced the yield attributing characters and pigeonpea yield. The mean height of plant, number of primary branches, pod length, mean pod damage, mean grain damage, yield per plant and yield per plot in protected and unprotected plots were 152.28 cm and 143.61 cm, 10.78 and 10 per plant, 5.43 cm and 4.91 cm, 6.20 per cent, and 40.34 per cent, 4.65 per cent and 42.47 per cent, 37.99 g and 19.88 g, 955.38 g and 628.92 g, respectively. The insect pests caused significant reduction in mean height of plant (5.62%), pod length (9.49%), number of primary branches (7.14%), mean pod damage (84.60%) and mean grain damage (89.12%). Based on the yield per plant, the mean avoidable loss was estimated to be 47.57 per cent; while that on a per plot basis it was 34.44 per cent.