International Journal of Agriculture Sciences ISSN: 0975-3710&E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 8, Issue 47, 2016, pp.-1943-1945. Available online at http://www.bioinfopublication.org/jouarchive.php?opt=&jouid=BPJ0000217 Research Article KNOWLEDGE LEVEL OF FARMERS ABOUT INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IN CAULIFLOWER CULTIVATION IN UDAIPUR DISTRICT OF RAJASTHAN NIDHI*, SHARMA F.L., GHOSLYA AJIT KUMAR AND KUMARI SUNITA Department of Extension Education, RCA, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan, 313001 *Corresponding Author: [email protected] Received: May 07, 2016; Revised: June 24, 2016; Accepted: June 25, 2016; Published: October 15, 2016 Abstract-IPM is a knowledge-based technology. It involves integration of different methods of disease and pest management to manage an important disease or pest of a crop or to manage all the important diseases and pests of a particular crop. The present study was conducted in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. Data were collected through pre-structured interview schedule. It was found that 47.92 per cent of the total respondents had medium level of knowledge about IPM in cauliflower cultivation. This study indicates that 63.37 per cent farmers were having very good knowledge about several IPM practices. Only 26.60 per cent farmers were having knowledge about bio-control practices, it indicates that farmers were having very poor knowledge about bio-control practices. Z value shows that farmers of Badgaon tehsil possessed more knowledge than farmers of Girwa tehsil about IPM practices. This article is helpful for extension person for transferring the technologies regarding IPM in this particular area. Keywords- : IPM, Cultural Practices, Knowledge, Biocontrol. Citation: Nidhi, et al., (2016) Knowledge Level of Farmers about Integrated Pest Management in Cauliflower Cultivation in Udaipur District of Rajasthan. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences, ISSN: 0975-3710 & E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 8, Issue 47, pp.-1943-1945. Copyright: Copyright©2016 Nidhi, et al., This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Academic Editor / Reviewer: BN Kalsariya Introduction Four villages from each selected tehsil were taken on the basis of maximum area Vegetables play an important role in the maintenance of human health. These under cauliflower cultivation. For selection of respondents, comprehensive list of make diet nutritive and balanced. Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the cauliflower growers was prepared with the help of village Patwari and Agriculture species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae It contains good amount of Supervisor of respective villages. From the list so prepared, 12 respondents were vitamins like vitamin A, C and fair amount of proteins and fibers. The cauliflower is selected randomly from each selected village. Thus, in all 96 farmers were also a good source of minerals like P, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, and Na but there are several included in the sample of the study. Data were collected through pre-structured insect-pests which attacks on cauliflower and reduces its nutritional value. In interview schedule. which some are common like diamond back moth, cabbage butter fly, tobacco caterpillar, cabbage semilooper etc that’s why it was very essential to give Result and Discussion emphasis on use of IPM module in cauliflower crop. Knowledge, as a body of information possessed by individual, is one of the IPM is a knowledge-based technology. It involves integration of different methods important components of behavioral aspects and play important role in adoption of of disease and pest management to manage an important disease or pest of a innovation. On this ground, it is imperative to know the extent of knowledge of crop. Under IPM, use of chemical pesticides is discouraged but not totally banned. farmers about IPM in cauliflower cultivation. The results have been presented IPM modules are area specific. They take into consideration not only diseases and under following heads: insect pests but also availability of inputs. Most of the modules include too many practices, which usually discourage the farmers. They are not ready to invest their Distribution of respondents according to their knowledge about IPM in entire energy in pest management alone. Therefore, it is important to develop cauliflower cultivation: modules involving few critical interventions. To distribute the farmers on the basis of their existing knowledge level about IPM in cauliflower cultivation, three categories viz. low, medium and high level of Materials and Methods knowledge were made by using mean score and standard deviation of the The present study was conducted in the purposively selected Udaipur district of obtained knowledge score by the respondents. Rajasthan. There are total eleven tehsils in Udaipur district of Rajasthan, out of [Table-1] reveals that out of 96 respondents, majority of respondents (47.92%) fell which, two Tehsils namely Badgaon and Girwa were selected on the basis of in medium level knowledge group whereas, 25.00 per cent cauliflower growers maximum area under cultivation of cauliflower. Further, a comprehensive list of all were observed in the high knowledge level group and remaining 27.08 per cent the major cauliflower-growing villages was prepared in consultation with the respondents possessed low level of knowledge about Integrated Pest personnel of Revenue and Agriculture Department from the identified Tehsils. Management technology in cauliflower cultivation. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences ISSN: 0975-3710&E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 8, Issue 47, 2016 || Bioinfo Publications || 1943 Knowledge Level of Farmers about Integrated Pest Management in Cauliflower Cultivation in Udaipur District of Rajasthan Knowledge of the respondents regarding recommended practices of integrated pest management in cauliflower cultivation: Knowledge of the respondents regarding chemical pesticidal practices of Knowledge of the respondents was assessed under five major aspects of IPM in IPM in cauliflower cultivation: cauliflower, of which, the results have been presented under the following heads: The data incorporated in [Table-5] vividly explicate that 98.96 per cent respondents were known with the quantity of the water required for one ha. of Knowledge of the respondents about conceptual framework of IPM and key insecticidal solution. insect pests of cauliflower: The data incorporated in [Table-2] reveals that as far as the knowledge about Table-5 Knowledge of the respondents regarding chemical pesticidal practices of conceptual framework of IPM is concerned, the cauliflower growers possessed IPM in cauliflower n = 96 maximum knowledge about the conceptual framework of IPM was 66.25 per cent. S. No. Chemical Pesticidal Practices MPS Rank 1. Knowledge about chemical pesticide as last alternative 97.92 2.5 Table-1 Distribution of respondents according to their knowledge level about IPM 2. Acquaintance with name of chemicals 50.78 5 3. Required quantity of water for preparation of insecticidal 98.96 1 in cauliflower cultivation n=96 solution S. Knowledge Level Badgaon Tehsil Girwa Tehsil Total 4. Disadvantages of higher doses of chemicals 97.92 2.5 No. F % F % F % 5. Precautions in using chemical pesticides 93.75 4 1. Low (<48.28) 12 25.00 14 29.17 26 27.08 MPS = Mean Per cent Score 2. Medium (48.29 to 71.90) 26 54.17 20 41.67 46 47.92 3. High (>71.90) 10 20.83 14 29.17 24 25.00 Total 48 100 48 100 96 100 Overall knowledge of the respondents regarding various IPM practices in cauliflower cultivation: f = frequency, % = per cent To get an overview of the overall knowledge regarding various major aspects of IPM possessed by the respondents, the overall scores for each major head was Table-2 Knowledge of the respondents regarding conceptual framework of IPM summed up and results have been presented in [Table-6]. and key pests of cauliflower n = 96 A perusal of data incorporated in [Table-6] reveals that among the major practices, S.No. Practices MPS Rank respondents had highest knowledge about cultural practices, which was 71.37 per 1. Conceptual framework of IPM 66.25 1 2. Key pests of cauliflower 60.37 2 cent and ranked first by the cauliflower growers. MPS = Mean Per cent Score Table-6 Overall knowledge of the respondents regarding IPM practices in Knowledge of the respondents regarding cultural practices of IPM in cauliflower n = 96 cauliflower: S. No. IPM practices MPS Rank A perusal of the [Table-3] explicate that the selected cauliflower growers had high 1. Conceptual framework of IPM 66.25 2 2. Key pest of cauliflower 60.37 3 knowledge about field sanitation and deep ploughing before crop sowing (99.51%) 3. Cultural practices 71.37 1 and ranked first by the cauliflower growers. 4. Biocontrol practices 26.60 5 5. Chemical pesticidal practices 50.96 4 Table-3 Knowledge of the respondents regarding cultural practices of IPM in Overall 63.37 cauliflower cultivation n = 96 MPS = Mean Per cent Score S.No. Cultural Practices MPS Rank 1. Field sanitation and deep ploughing before crop sowing 99.51 1 Comparison of knowledge of farmers about IPM practices in cauliflower 2. Crop rotation 92.75 3 cultivation: 3. High yielding varieties 48.09 11 In order to find out the significance of difference between the farmers of selected 4. Seed rate, spacing, Transplanting and time of sowing 86.70 5 tehsils with respect to the knowledge possessed by them, ‘Z’ test was applied. 5. Seed treatment 72.71 7 6. Intercropping 78.39 6 7. Fertilizer management 88.02 4 Table-7 Comparison of knowledge between cauliflower growers of selected tehsils 8. Weed management 69.79 8 S.No Category of sample Mean S.D. ‘Z’ value 1. Respondents of Badgaon tehsil 64.67 11.61 4.10** 9. Irrigation management 64.58 9 2.