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Mealy bug
| Symptom of Damage : |
- The damage is by sucking of the plant sap.
- An infested field shows isolated patches of stunted and sickly looking plants.
- The seedlings in the dry nursery are badly affected.
- Large number of insects remains in leaf sheath and suck the sap.
- Presence of white waxy fluff in leaf sheaths.
- Called as Soorai disease or Chakdhora or Damaged spots.
Nature of Damage :
- Large numbers of these insects’ remains inside the leaf sheaths and suck up the plant sap.
- The affected tillers remain stunted with yellowish curled leaves.
- When the attack is severe, it inhibits panicle emergence.
- In severe cases, yield may be reduced even up to 50%.
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| White soft bodied nymphs and adults remains inside the leaf sheath |
Desapped leaves |
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| Identification of pest : |
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Scientific Name - Bravennia rohi
- Egg :
The female lays numerous yellowish white eggs/simply deposits nymphs in outer leaf sheaths.
- Nymph :
The newly hatched nymphs crowded within the waxy threads for 6-10 h before they disperse to various parts of the same plant. The pale yellowish nymph is active and crawls about the plant for a while and settled itself on the plant / stem and turns dark yellow after a day. Body gets covered with waxy material on second day.
- Adult :
Nymphs and adults being wingless look alike. Wingless insect covered with filamentous materials. Female are reddish, oval, soft-bodied living in colonies inside the leaf sheath. Males are small, slender, pale – yellow, having single pair of wings and a style like process at the end of the abdomen but lack mouthparts. |
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| Mealy bug |
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| Mealy bug |
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| Management Strategies: |
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- Remove the grasses from the bunds and trim the bunds.
- Remove and destroy the affected plants.
- Spray any one of the following insecticides in the initial stage of infestation. Fenitrothion 50 EC 1000 ml, Phosalone 35 EC 1500 ml and dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml / ha.
- Conserve the natural enemies like Scymnus sp.,Anatrichus pygmaeus, and Mepachymerus ensifer.
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Natural enemy -
Scymnus sp |
Pesticide spraying |
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Removal of grasses
on bunds |
Spray Dimethoate |
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