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Crop: Sorghum
Scientific name: Sorghum bicolor
Order: Cyperales
Family: Poaceae
Local names: Mtama (Swahili)
Important pests |
Important pests of sorghum
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1. Shootfly, Atherigona varia soccata
Symptom of damage
- The maggot bores inside the stem and cuts the growing point.
- Central shoots dried and produce “dead heart” symptom.
- The infested plant produces side tillers.
Identification of the pest
- Egg - white, cylindrical, distal somewhat flattened
- Adult - Whitish grey fly
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Dead heart |
Management
- Use resistant varieties like Co-1, CSH 15R, Maldandi and Hagari.
- Take up early sowing of sorghum( South West or North East monsoon)
- Use seeds pelleted with insecticides
- Seed treatment with imidacloprid 70 WS @ 10 g/kg of seeds
- In case of direct seeding, use increased seed rate upto 12.5 kg/per hectare
- Plough soon after harvest, remove and destroy the stubbles.
- Set up the TNAU low cost fish meal traps @ 12/ha till the crop is 30 days old.
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2. Stem borer, Chilo partellus
Symptoms of damage
- Withering and drying of central shoot -“dead heart”
- Red mining in the midrib
- Bore holes visible on the stem near the nodes.
- Tender folded leaves have parallel “shot hole”
- Affected parts of stem may show internally tunneling of caterpillars
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Identification of the pest
- Egg - Scale-like flat oval eggs in batches on the under surface of leaves near the midribs.
- Larva - Yellowish brown with a brown head and prothoracic shield.
- Adult - Moth is medium size, straw coloured.
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Management
- Dead hearts should be pulled out and used as fodder (or) burried in manure pits.
- Stubbles should be ploughed up during winter and burnt to destroy the hibernating larvae.
- Sow the lab lab or cowpea as an intercrop (Sorghum: Lab lab 4:1)
- Set up light trap
- Bio-control agents viz.,Trichogramma minutum, Bracon chinensis and Apanteles flavipes
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Mix any one of the following insecticides with sand (total quantity of 50 kg)
- Phorate - 10G@ 8 kg
- Carbofuran 3G@ 17 kg;
- Carbaryl + lindane 4G @20 kg
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3. Pink stem borer: Sesamia inferens
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Symptoms of damage
- Central shoots dried and produce the dead hearts.
Identification of the pest
- Egg - Bead like laid in rows within the leaf sheath
- Larva - Pinkish brown with dark head
- Adult - Straw coloured moth with white wing
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4. Ear Head caterpillar: Helicoverpa armigera,
Symptoms of damage
- Earheads are partially eaten with chalky appearance.
- Feacal pellets are visible within the ear heads.
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Identification of the pest
- Eggs - Spherical in shape and creamy white in colour, laid singly
- Larva - Shows colour variation from greenish to brown.
- It has dark brown grey lines on the body with lateral white lines
- Pupa - Brown in colour, occurs in soil, leaf, pod and crop debri
Adult
- Light pale brownish yellow stout moth.
- Forewings are olive green to pale brown with a dark brown circular spot in the centre.
- Hind wings are pale smoky white with a broad blackish outer margin.
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Management
Apply any one of the following on 3rd and 18th day after panicle emergence
- Carbaryl 10 D 25 kg/ha
- Malathion 5 D 25 kg/ha
- Phosalone 4 D 25 kg/ha
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5. Shoot bug: Peregrinus maidis
Symptoms of damage
- Plants become unhealthy stunted and yellow.
- The leaves wither from top downwards.
- Panicle formation is inhibited and the plants die if attack is severe.
- Honeydew secreted by the bug causes growth of sooty mould on leaves.
- The midribs of the leaves turn red due to egg-laying and may dry up subsequently.
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Identification of the pest
- Egg - Laid inside the leaf tissue and covered with a white waxy substance.
- Adult - Yellowish brown to dark brown with translucent wings.
Management
- Spray with 0.04% diazine (or) dimethoate 0.02%
- Application of phosphomidon @ 250 ml in 450-500 litres water/ha.
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6. Earhead bug: Calocoris angustatus,
Symptoms of damage
- Nymphs and adult suck the juice from within the grains when they are in the milky stage.
- Grains shrink and turn black in colour and ill filled (or) chaffy.
- Presence of large number of nymphs and adults are seen on the ear head.
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Identification of the pest
- Egg - Blue cigar shaped , laid under the glumes or into the middle of the florets
- Nymphs - Slender, green in colour
- Adults - Male is green in colour. Female is green with a brown margin
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Management
- Apply any one of the following on 3rd and 18th day after panicle emergence :
- Carbaryl 10 D @25 kg/ha
- Malathion 5 D @25 kg/ha
- Phosalone 4 D @25 kg/ha
- Neem seed kernel extract 5%
- Azadirachtin 1%
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7. Sorghum midge: Contarinia sorghicola,
Symptoms of damage
- Pollen shedding due to egg laying
- White pupal cases protruding out from the grains
- Chaffy grains with holes
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Identification of the pest
- Adult - Fly is small, fragile with a bright orange abdomen and a pair of transparent wings.
Management
- Set up of light traps
- Apply any one of the following on 3rd and 18th day after panicle emergence
- Carbaryl 10 D @25 kg/ha
- Malathion 5 D @25 kg/ha
- Phosalone 4 D @25 kg/ha
- Neem seed kernel extract 5%
- Azadirachtin 1%
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8. Plant lice: Rhopalosiphum maidis
Symptoms of damage
- Yellowing of leaves
- Colonies of aphids found in central leaf whorl.
Identification of the pest
- Yellow with dark green legs
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Management
- Spraying the base of attacked plants with a contact (or) systemic insecticide controls the aphid.
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