Netting and Bagging: An Eco-Friendly Management Approach Against the Common Cutworm (Spodoptera litura Fab.) of Bell Pepper.

Purpose: Environment-friendly pest management techniques are safer, sustainable over the years, better for ecosystem services, and more convenient with lower risks. Netting and or bagging is one of the most suitable tools for pest management. To develop environmentally friendly management techniques against the common cutworm (Spodoptera litura Fab.), we compared the cost-effectiveness of netting and bagging for the production of bell peppers in Bangladesh. Research Method: The study was undertaken in the field of Entomology, at Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh, from October 2018 to April 2019. Netting and bagging significantly improved plant morphology, fruit quality, and yield and managed the insect pests. Findings: In this paper, we tried to bring forth different prospects of netting and bagging in bell peppers to manage the common cutworm. Superior-quality fruits were harvested from the netting/bagging treatment compared to the control. Netting and bagging treatment increased yield by more than 10-fold over control and decreased fruit infestation to 10.67%. The maximum marginal benefit-cost ratio (MBCR = 18.06) was achieved from the netting/bagging treatment, while the lowest MBCR (7.29) was obtained from bagging only. Superior-quality fruits were obtained using white paper bags compared to brown paper bags. The common cutworm first appeared in February and gradually increased with the progress of the season, indicating that netting and bagging need to be applied at the early fruiting stage of bell pepper. Research Limitations: The study focused on the environment-friendly management of common cutworms in bell peppers, revealing impressive results, but these need to be validated across the locations. Originality/Value: Albeit labor-intensive, combining nylon netting with fruit bagging is a cost-effective, eco-friendly management technique against the common cutworm of bell pepper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]