Investigation on the effect of date of sowing on the incidence of defoliator pests of sunflower

A field experiment was conducted during the Kharif / Rabi season of 2014 in Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) to identify the appropriate sowing time to reduce pest incidence and to get higher seed yield. The sunflower hybrid, KBSH-53 recorded highest seed yield (12.95 q/ha and 12.05 q/ha) with reduced pest incidence and per cent foliage damage during the crop sown on first fortnight of September and second fortnight of August as compared to the crop sown on second fortnight of September, first fortnight of October and second fortnight of October.