Studies were carried out to evaluate the efficacy of different plant extracts against defoliators and pod borer
complex of cowpea during kharif 2017 at the Institute of Organic Farming, UAS, Dharwad. The different defoliators were
Spodoptera litura (F.), Spilosoma obliqua (Walker), Thysanoplusia orichalcea (F.), Agrius convolvuli (L.) and Orgyia
antiqua (L.). Among them S. litura was predominant one. The pod borers involved were Maruca vitrata (Fabricius), Cydia
ptychora (Meyrick), Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) and Lampides boeticus (L.). Among different plant extracts tested
against these pests, NSKE (5 %) and garlic chilli extract (0.5 %) emerged as the best treatments by recording 24.36 and 25.47
per cent defoliation with pod damage of 13.77 and 14.44 per cent, respectively. These treatments also recorded the yield of
10.97 and 10.16 q/ha with the net returns of ` 24380/ha and 22830/ha, respectively.