author(s)
CG Sawant, CS Patil and RV Patil

abstract
Insecticide usage pattern of selected farmers from Ahmednagar, Pune and Nashik district of western Maharashtra indicated that, farmers relied mostly on chemical pesticides to control the insect pests of cabbage. Irrespective of location, farmers from these locations used conventional insecticides. Among three cabbage growing areas, the use of conventional insecticides was maximum by the farmers from Pune districts (1.43 kg a.i. ha^-1 season^-1) followed by Ahmednagar (1.22 kg a.i. ha^-1 season^-1) and Nashik districts (1.07 kg a.i. ha^-1 season^-1). As regards, use of novel insecticides, farmers from Nashik district used 0.38 kg a.i.ha^-1 season^-1 followed by Pune (0.24 kg a.i. ha^-1 season^-1) and Ahmednagar district (0.20 kg a.i. ha^-1 season^-1). Very few farmers from above locations used biopesticides. The most commonly used conventional insecticides were triazophos, quinalphos, dimethoate, dichlorvos, cypermethrin, profenophos and chlorpyriphos. About 50 per cent farmers were aware of natural enemies. Nearly 60 per cent farmers knew about the recommended insecticides and their doses on cabbage. Majority of the farmers were aware of the residual effects of insecticides, but they did not follow any precautions to avoid harmful effects. Majority of the farmers did not know about safe waiting period for harvesting of cabbage after application of insecticides. Majority of the farmers sprayed at an interval of 7-10 days giving 5-7 rounds of spraying during cropping season of cabbage.