We studied the effectiveness of glyphosate [N-(phosphono-methyl)glycine] for the control of Orobanche spp. in the field when applied to the crop foliage prior to the emergence of the parasite. The best Orobanche control in October-sown carrots (Daucus carota L.) parasitized by Orobanche crenata Forsk. and O. aegyptiaca Pers. and in December-sown broad bean (Vicia faba L.) and peas (Pisum sativum L.) parasitized by O. crenata was obtained by spraying twice, 2 weeks apart, in late January and in February, respectively. Carrot root yield remained unaffected by glyphosate at rates up to 200 g/ha. In heavily infested fields, carrots were irreversibly damaged by early Orobanche parasitism. The highest yields of pods of broad beans occurred after two or three applications of 150 g/ha glyphosate. Peas were seriously damaged by 150 g/ha. Two or three sprays of 50 g/ha glyphosate resulted in the highest green-kernel yield of pea where the soil was not heavily infested. Glyphosate effectively reduced O. cernua Loeffl. emergence in non-irrigated tomatoes (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.), but was very phytotoxic to the crop. Glyphosate was highly effective in controlling Orobanche spp.; however, marginal selectivity may be sufficient in some crops and not in glyphosate-susceptible ones.

Eleven artificial diets with principal base-ingredients as pulses and beans, viz. winged bean, Psophocarpus tetragonolobus; green gram, Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek; dew gram, Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marichat; broad bean, Vicia fabia (L.); soybean, Glycine max Merr.; and cluster bean, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba Taub., were formulated either alone or in combination, for the mass rearing of Chilo partellus (Swinhoe). On the basis of important biological parameters having direct bearing on the selection of media for rearing, seven diets were unsuitable. These diets were compounded with either winged bean, soybean grains (dry and water soaked), or broad bean or with different quantities of cluster bean blended with green gram and dew gram as principal base-ingredients. The superiority of the remaining four diets based on (i) kidney bean, (ii) kidney bean + sorghum leaf powder, (iii) green gram + dew gram, and (iv) green gram + dew gram + sorghum leaf powder, was established. The modified green gram + dew gram + sorghum leaf powder-based diet has an added advantage over its original version due to low cost of production of moths and eggs in both the generations. This highlights the formulation of a new modified diet which can be utilized not only as an alternative to the original green gram + dew gram based diet but also can replace it to overcome the phenomenon of inbreeding depression due to continued rearing in the same diet.