Effect of Different Seed Treatments on Occurence of Natural Enemies in Soybean Ecosystem

The present investigation entitled "Effect of different seed treatments on occurence of natural enemies in soybean ecosystem" was undertaken during 2012-13 under field condition in the Insectary, Entomology section, College of Agriculture, Nagpur. It was laid out in randomized block design with eight treatments and three replications. The effect of different seed treatments on germination percentage of soybean was significantly superior over untreated control (68%). Highest germination percentage (92%) was observed in imidacloprid 70 WS @ 12 g/kg and it was followed by thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 1.50 g /kg (90%). Maximum population of natural enemies (coccinellids, chrysopa and spiders) was observed in untreated control (2.066/plot) and was at par with imidacloprid 70 WS @ 12 g/kg (1.732/plot) while remaining seed treatmeants recorded natural enemies population in the range of 1.265 to 0.466 per plot. Yield data indicated that the treatment with imidacloprid 70 WS @ 12 g/kg obtained highest grain yield (1300 kg/ha) followed by thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 1.50 g/kg (1000 kg/ha) and these were found significantly superior over remaining seed treatmeants.