author(s)
C Muthiah and P Indiragandhi

abstract
Aonla (Emblica officinalis) the king of arid fruits termed as Indian gooseberry or nelli is well known for its medicinal and therapeutic value and its suitability for cultivation under arid zone condition. Despite its hardy nature, many insects pests are causing damage to this sacred crop. Field experiment was conducted to manage major insect pest viz., shoot gall maker, leaf roller and fruit borer with biorational insecticides. Dimethoate @ 2 ml / lit was found to be effective in reducing shoot gall maker damage. Dimethoate recorded minimum number of galls/branch (4.45 and 3.00) followed by azadirachtin1000 ppm (6.5 and 5.33) on 45 days after first and second spray respectively as against control which recorded 13.00 galls/branch and fruit yield of 24.45 t/ha with 94.04% yield increase over untreated control. Chlorpyriphos @ 2 ml/lit was found be an effective one in recording least leaf folder damage (6.47%).Botanical insecticides viz., neem oil 3% (7.24) and azadirachtin 1000 ppm (7.86) also recorded less damage on 10 days after application. The same trend was observed for reducing the incidence of fruit borer also. Hence, it could be inferred that dimethoate @ 2ml/lit for shoot gall maker and chlorpyriphos @ 2ml/lit may be recommended for leaf roller and fruit borer management respectively. However, the next best treatment botanical insecticide azadirachtin 1000 ppm @ 1 ml/lit may also be recommended for the effective management of all the three pests in anola ecosystem. So far, there was no report on the effect of botanicals on the insect pest of aonla.