EFFICIENCY OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PREPARATIONS IN THE CONTROL OF PESTS AND DISEASES OF POT MARIGOLD (CALENDULA OFFICINALIS L.)

Abstract

Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) is a valuable medicinal plant widely used in both official and folk medicine. Calendula is among the ten most common medicinal plants in Europe. As a highly demanded and economically efficient crop, pot marigold attracts the interest of researchers and agricultural producers in terms of improving technological measures that contribute to increasing the yield of air-dried inflorescences as valuable medicinal raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. An important factor is the cultivation of plants that are not damaged by pests and not affected by diseases. The aim of the study was to identify pests and diseases and to determine the effectiveness of the studied insecticides and fungicides when cultivating the crop under the conditions of the Western Forest-Steppe. Two factors were studied in the experiment: factor A – cultivar (Soniachna Krasunia, Berezotytska Soniachna); factor B – preparation (untreated – control; insecticides: Actellic, Fitoverm; fungicides: Benomyl, Trichodermin). As a result of records and observations, it was found that the most numerous pest species in pot marigold crops was aphid, with an economic threshold of harmfulness of 5–10 % of affected plants, while the most common disease was Fusarium wilt. Control measures were carried out using biological and chemical preparations. Surveys of crops for infestation and damage by aphids on pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) showed that without the use of insecticides, the number of infested plants increased from 165–169 individuals to 296–302 individuals per 10 plants. The calculation of insecticide efficiency includes an assessment of the biological component (percentage of pest mortality), which is based on a comparison of treated and control plots, taking into account weather conditions and the developmental stages of both plants and pests in order to determine the actual reduction in harmfulness. Spraying with Actellic significantly reduced pest spread, namely by 71–72 % 10 days after treatment and by 94–96 % 30 days after treatment. The application of the biological insecticide Fitoverm showed a slightly lower effect; specifically, its efficiency on the 30th day was 92–93 %. The optimal effect in controlling Fusarium wilt was achieved by spraying with the fungicide Benomyl, the use of which reduced the spread of the disease by 6–7 %.