Effect of Chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC Applied Through Drone and Knapsack Sprayers on Ladybird Beetle and Spider Populations in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2025 at the research farm of the National Agriculture Research Project (NARP), Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, to evaluate the effect of drone and conventional knapsack application of chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC on natural enemies associated with soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill. The experiment included different doses of chlorantraniliprole applied through a drone, a conventional knapsack sprayer, and an untreated control. Populations of spiders and ladybird beetles were recorded before and after each spray. Following the first spray, the untreated control (T₅) recorded the highest mean populations of spiders (1.86 spiders/mrl) and ladybird beetles (1.88 beetles/mrl), whereas T₃ (chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC @ 187.5 ml/ha through drone) recorded the lowest populations of spiders (1.51 spiders/mrl) and ladybird beetles (1.42 beetles/mrl). Similarly, after the second spray, the highest populations of spiders (1.95 spiders/mrl) and ladybird beetles (1.93 beetles/mrl) were recorded in T₅, while the lowest populations of spiders (1.43 spiders/mrl) and ladybird beetles (1.41 beetles/mrl) were observed in T₃. However, differences among treatments were statistically non-significant for both natural enemies. These findings indicate that the tested chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC treatments did not produce statistically significant changes in spider and ladybird beetle populations under the experimental conditions.