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Abstract
The experiment was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of weeding and bunch covering in controlling banana leaf and fruit beetle, Nodostoma viridipennis Mots. Weeding effectively reduced the infestation of N. viridipennis. In the weed infested banana garden percent of fruit infestation was almost ,three times higher (96.42 ± 1.82) than that of weed free orchard (32.54 ± 1.49). The weight per infested fruit after ripening was 142.04 ± 1.47g in infested orchard while it was 152.70 ± 0.96g in weed free garden. Number of banana per bunch increased about 15.13% due to weeding. Bunch covering with Decis impregnated nylon net protected the banana completely from the attack of banana leaf and fruit beetle. The weight of banana of the bunch covered with Decis impregnated nylon net was higher than Polyethylene bagging. However, the cost-benefit ratio of bunch covering with Decis impregnated nylon net was slightly lower (2.11) than polyethylene bag (2.14). After thirty days from emergence of spadix, removal of all bunch covering gave complete protection from attack of banana leaf and fruit beetle.