Abstract
Kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulate Blanco) is one of the valuable fruit crops that mostly grown in North Indian states of India due to its high-quality juice content and resistant to decline. Pests psylla, whitefly, sooty mold and dieback damage new flush and fruits of mandarin are the most important biotic constraints affecting yield to the tune of 70 per cent. To manage these menace, farmers often resort to cocktail of pesticides without achieving the desired result. Hence, area wide implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in kinnow mandarin was implemented during 2021, 2022 and 2023 covering 5 villagesat Hisar, Haryana. The lowest average mean population of psylla and whitefly was recorded in IPM plots (4.82±4.69 no.of nymph and adult/10cm shoot and 2.80±1.56 no.of nymph and adult/leaf) compared to FP (6.67±3.15 no.of nymph and adult/10cm shoot and 3.89±1.51 no.of nymph and adult/leaf) and control (7.71±5.98 no.of nymph and adult/10cm shoot and 4.90±2.05 no.of nymph and adult/leaf) plots respectively. Similarly, minimum average mean disease severity of sooty mold and dieback was noticed in IPM plots (7.41±2.18 and 10.01±2.34%) compared to FP (9.31±2.97 and 12.11±2.65%) and untreated control (11.28±4.67 and 13.91±2.79%) plots. Likewise, low rate of Area Under Diseases Progress Curve (AUDPC) of sooty mold and dieback was observed in IPM followed by FP and in control plots. The Pearson correlation matrix reveals intricate relationships among the pests. The highest average fruit yield (t/ha) and B:C ratio was also recorded in IPM (22.46 & 4.34) compared to FP (18.88 & 3.16) and control (7.42 & 1.73). Besides, the IPM strategy has increased economic yield, the net profit by preventing pest resurgence, pesticide resistance, maintaining natural enemy diversity.