IPM Stratergies for Date palm, Arecanut,Betelvine

Insect Pests of Date Palm in Arid Region Date palm scale (Parlatoria blanchardi) Lesser Date Moth (Batrachedra amydraula) Related reso...

Insect Pests of Date Palm in Arid Region

1. Date palm scale (Parlatoria blanchardi)
2. Lesser Date Moth (Batrachedra amydraula)
3. Related resources

Date palm scale (Parlatoria blanchardi)

Date palm scale is widely present in most date palm growing areas of the world. It is considered a serious pest in Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Host Range : Date palm

Nature of Damage

• Date palm scale is very serious on young palms between two to eight years of age, but even under severe attacks, the palm and its offshoots do not die.
• Nymphs and adults suck the sap from the leaflet, midribs and the dates. Under each scale insect, a discoloured area appears on the leaflet.
• Heavy infestation causes leaflets to turn yellow and contributes to the premature death of the fronds.

• Population of this pest is mild during May and June. On the onset of monsoon its population builds up and reaches to severe form during December and January months.
• The scale insect was observed as major pests in all the orchards in mild to severe form ranging from 1.10 cm² at Dantore to 18.77 cm² at Bikaner.

Description

• Anterior and posterior ends without minute "teeth"; rear abdominal segments formed into pygidium (diaspidid or armored scales)
• The egg is oblong with whitish yellow color.
• After hatching, the 1st instar, crawler that gets out from beneath the scale is also oblong yellowish white in color.

• The female passes through two nymphal instars, while the male passes through four.
• The female becomes semicircular, elongated, and apterous, while the male is elongated and winged.
• The scale is protecting itself with an armoured scale composed of exuviae and other secreted materials.
• After the last nymphal moult, the male usually emerges from beneath the scale, while the female remains motionless.

Lesser Date Moth (Batrachedra amydraula)

Lesser date moth is an important insect pest of date palm infesting fruits. This is one of the most important pests of the date palm in UAE that may cause more than 50% loss of the crop if not properly managed. In Rajasthan, the incidence of this pest was around 16 to 20%.

Host Range : Date palm

Nature of damage

• It starts its activity in date palm plantations, is then transmitted into storage with infested dates and can go through multiple generations within stored dates.

• The highest fruit damage was recorded in the variety Medjool (16.01%) followed by Khalas (14.54%) and Nagal (13.78%), whereas, lowest fruit damage was recorded in the varieties Zagloul, Medini and Zahidi as 1.43, 1.51 and 2.30 per cent.

Description

• Hind wing long, narrow; marginal fringe longer than hind wing width (case-bearing moths).

• The first larvae appear in April to start the damage on the newly formed fruits.
• The larva has a period of dormancy August till March of the next year between the bases of the terminal fronds.
• Pupation takes place in March and adults of the new cycle emerge in April, giving more larvae in 3 overlapping generations to damage different growth stages of dates.

Source: Insects Pest of Arid Fruit Crops

Related resources

1. Date Palm Pests and Diseases: Integrated Management Guide

 

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25 ratings and

Arecanut Crop Stage-Wise IPM

1. Pre planting
2. Nursery stage
3. Seed and seedling stage
4. Vegetative stage
5. Reproductive stage
6. Inflorescence stage
7. Nut formation stage
8. Harvest and storage

Management	Activity
Pre planting
	Common cultural practices: Prepare proper pits. Timely planting should be done. Maintain proper spacing. A pit of size of 90 x 90 x 90 cm is preferred when the soils are deep and well drained. In heavy soils with added impedance to drainage, pit size of 60 x 60 x 60 cm is preferable. Pits should be filled with top soil, farm yard manure and sand. Fill the pit with FYM, red earth and sand mixture. Seedling should be planted at the center of the pit and put soil to cover up to the collar region of the seedling.
Weeds	Cultural control: Banana can be raised as a shade crop in the interspaces during the initial years. Prepare beds of 1-1.5 m width and of convenient length with 75 cm space between beds. In areas where drainage is poor, prepare raised beds (10-20 cm height)
Nursery stage
	Common cultural practices: Select fully ripen nuts for use as seeds. Select early early-bearing and high yielding varieties.Select planting sites with deep well-drained soil without high water trouble. Do deep ploughing or digging. Soil solarization by using transparent polyethylene sheets in nursery plots Select good mother palm i.e. must be of 20 years of age, yield more than 80 nuts/annum, etc
Nutrients	Apply basal dose of well decomposed FYM or vermicompost @ 2 t/ acre treated with Trichoderma 2-3 weeks before planting seed nuts in sand bed nursery. Recyling biomass using areca materials Polythene bags (25x 15cm, 150 gauge) filled with potting mixture (top soil: farm yard manure: sand 7:3:2) can also be used to raise secondary nursery
Weeds	Periodical weeding and mulching with organic materials should be done. In nursery, weeds should be removed manually.
Seed and seedling stage
	Common cultural practices: Sow seeds in the spacing of 5-6 cm cover the seed nuts with sand. Transplant sprouts 90 days old having two to three leaves in the secondary nursery at a spacing of 30×30 cm. Prepare secondary beds of 150 cm width of convenient length. Provide shade by growing banana or Coccinia indica by artificial pandal. Apply recommended dose of fertilizer or manure. Provide irrigation properly.
Nutrients	Apply 12 Kg of green leaf and 12 Kg compost or farm yard manure per plant at the time of planting. A fertilizer dose of 100 g N, 40 g P2O5 and 140 g K2O per palm per year is recommended. Terracing should be provided in undulated lands to prevent soil erosion
Weeds	Weeds should be removed from pits at the time of planting. Straw/ leaf mulches are provided after planting to suppress the weed growth around young seedlings. Cover crop and intercrop may be grown between the rows.
* Apply Trichoderma viride/ harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens as seeds/ seedlings/ planting materials treatment and soil application (if commercial products are used, check for label claim. However, biopesticides produced by farmers for own consumption in their fields, registration is not required)
Vegetative stage
	Common cultural practices: Collect and destroy crop debris Provide irrigation at critical stages of the crop. Avoid water logging. Regulate shade in thickly shaded areas. Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when 1-2 larval parasitoids are observed. Remove and destroy collateral/alternate hosts such as castor, ginger, turmeric in the immediate vicinity. Maintain optimum plant density. Ensure adequate shade of 65-70% in endemic areas and irrigate the crop before attaining critical period. Fill gaps with healthy disease free materials. Mulching the plant basins with green leaves and other organic materials during summer months conserves and maintains the population of native beneficial microflora. Common mechanical practices: Handpick the older larvae during early stages Collect and destroy plant parts infested with insect pest and diseases Handpick the gregarious caterpillars and the cocoons which are   found on stem and destroy them in kerosene mixed water. Use yellow sticky traps @ 4-5 trap/acre Use light trap @ 1/acre and operate between 6 pm and 10 pm Install pheromone traps @ 4-5/acre for monitoring adult moths activity (replace the lures with fresh lures after every 2-3 weeks) Erecting of bird perches @ 20/acre for encouraging predatory birds such as King crow, common mynah etc. Set up bonfire during evening hours at 7-8 pm Common biological practices: Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering Augmentative release of natural enemies
Nutrients	For seedlings, 1/3 of the recommended dose of chemical fertilizers (100 g N, 40 g P2O5 and 140 g K2O per palm) is sufficient during first year; 2/3 during the second year and full dose from third year onwards. Under rainfed conditions, 1/3 of the recommended dose in April-May and 2/3 in September-October should be applied. Under irrigated conditions, the April-May dose can be applied in February. During February or April-May, broadcast the fertilizer around the base of each palm after weeding and mix with the soil by light forking During September-October, open the basin to a radius of 75 to 100 cm and to a depth of 15-20 cm, apply the fertilizer and cover with dug soil.
Weeds	Timely hoeing & hand tool weeding should be done manually / mechanically during initial years. Soil should be loosened with light digging in October-November. Weeding is done twice or thrice a year by spade digging
Phytophagous mite	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Cultural control: Collect and destroy the heavily infested and drying leaves of young palm in the initial foci of colonization
Scales	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Biological control: Release Chilocorus nigritus periodically @ 4-5 beetles/palm Conserve predators such as coccinellid beetles (C. nigritus and C. circumdatus)
Spindle bugs	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Cultural control: Digging and forking of the soil before and after the monsoon will help in eliminating the various developmental stages of the beetle.
Basal stem rot/foot rot/anaberoga/Gan oderma Wilt	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Cultural control: Improve drainage. Avoid dense planting. Avoid flood irrigation and water flowing from infected palms to healthy palms. Avoid repeated ploughing and digging in the diseased gardens. Balanced manuring and fertilizer application. Cutting and burning of dead palms along with the bole and roots should be followed strictly.
Yellow leaf disease	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Mechanical control: Remove and destroy the diseased palms in the mildly affected areas to prevent the spread. Cultural control: Biomass recycling and excess application of phosphorus 100g/palm
Nematodes	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Mechanical control: Mechanically remove left over/residual parts of the plant
Reproductive stage
Nutrients	Apply deficient micronutrients if any based on soil test recommendations
Weeds	Intercultural operations should be done manually or mechanically from time to time to reduce the weed incidence.
Bud rot	Mechanical control: Remove and destroy the diseased palms in the mildly affected areas to prevent the spread.
Root grub	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Cultural control: Deep summer ploughing to expose the immature stages for avian predation. Mechanical control: Collection and destruction of beetles emerging from the soil during pre-monsoon showers in the evening hours Install light traps @ 1 trap/acre and operate between 6 pm and 10 pm Biological control: Conserve and augment entomopathogenic nematodes such as Heterorhabditis spp. and Steinernema spp. Application of neem cake @ 2 Kg/palm/year at the base of the plant during June-July
Inflorescence stage
Inflorescence caterpillar	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Mechanical control: Affected spadices may be opened and if all the female flowers have been damaged the inflorescence should be removed and  burnt.
Inflorescence die back or bud shedding	Mechanical control: Remove the fully affected inflorescence and destroy them to prevent spread.
Nut formation stage
Koleroga/mahali/fruit rot/bud rot	Mechanical control: Collect all the infected nuts and other plant parts and destroy Cover the bunches with polybags
Pentatomid bug	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Mechanical control: Remove and destroy the alternate hosts such as chillies, ladies finger, bitter gourd etc
Harvest and storage
Storage pests: Coffee bean weevil Cigarette beetle	Common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Mechanical control: Sun dry the fully ripened nuts by evenly spreading on ground or cement floor

Source:NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

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21 ratings

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Arecanut Insect Pests

1. Spindle bug
2. Pentatomid bug
3. White grub/root grub
4. Inflorescence caterpillar:
5. Red mite
6. White mite
7. Burrowing nematode
8. IPM for Arecanut

Spindle bug

Biology:

• Egg: Eggs are laid singly between the leaflets of the spindle. The eggs hatch in 9 days.
• Nymph: There are five nymphal stages and it is completed in 15-24 days. The light violet brown nymphs have greenish yellow border. Adult: Adult bugs are brightly coloured (red and black)

Damage symptoms:

• Inhabit the inner most leaf axils, usually below the spindle.
• Both nymphs andadults suck sap. Infested portions develop necrotic patches leading to drying.
• Spindle fails to unfurl.
• Severe infestation leads to stunting of the palm.

Natural enemies of spindle bug:

Predators: Lacewing, Ladybird beetle, King crow, common mynah, wasp, dragonfly, spider, robber fly, reduviid bug, praying mantid, red ant, big eyed bug, pentatomid bug, earwig, ground beetle etc.

Pentatomid bug

Biology:

• Egg: The white or pale green barrel-shaped eggs are laid in clusters (25 eggs) on the lower surface of leaves. Egg period is about 4-5 days
• Nymph: Nymphs lack fully developed wings and are tick-like in appearance, ranging in size from 2.4 mm (1st instar) to 12 mm (5th instar). First instars are orange or red in colour and remain clustered around the egg mass. The 2nd instars appear black in colour and subsequent instars (3rd, 4th, and 5th) resemble adults in colour. Each nymphal instar lasts for 10 days.
• Adult: Adults are 12 to17 mm long (approximately 1/2 inch), and have a mottled appearance. Alternating dark and light bands occur on the last two antennal segments. Additionally, the head and pronotum are covered with patches of coppery or bluish metallic-colored punctures and the margins of the pronotum are smooth. The exposed lateral margins of the abdomen are marked 32 with alternate bands of brown and white. Faint white bands are also evident on the legs.

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

• The later instar nymphs and adult bugs pierce the tender nuts and suck the kernel sap resulting in drying of kernels and dropping of tender nuts
• Characteristic pinprick black marks are seen at the feeding sites, which subsequently enter into the kernel

Natural enemies of pentatomid bug:

Parasitoid:Anastatus bangalorensis

White grub/root grub

Biology:

• Egg: Adult beetles lay eggs in soil mostly up to 10 cm depth. Eggs hatch in about 1 to 3 weeks.
• Grub/larva: The grub period with three instars is completed in 7 to 8 months.
• Pupa: The pupation takes place in soil in cocoons prepared with mud which lasts about a month
• Adult: The adult beetles are chestnut brown in color and emerge during May-June few days after receipt of pre-monsoon showers, between 6.30 and 7.30 PM.

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

• Root/white grubs occur mostly in sandy and sandy loam soils.
• They are voracious feeders of arecanut roots.
• The early instar grubs feed on the roots of grasses and other humus.
• The second and third instar grubs of these beetles feed on tender and mature roots of the palm. In severe cases, the bole of the palm is also eaten up.
• They also feed on roots of intercrops such as banana, cocoa, tapioca, yams etc.
• Feeding on arecanut seedling roots results in dropping and drying of leaves
• Affected seedlings come off easily since the entire root system is usually eaten up.
• Palms with continuous (few years) infestation show a sickly appearance, with yellowing of leaves, tapering of stem, and reduction in yield.
• The palms may topple in case of severe loss of root system
• Natural enemies of white grub/root grub
• Parasitoid: Scoliids wasp etc.
• Predators: False vampire bats, garden lizards, wild boar etc.

Inflorescence caterpillar:

Biology:

• Egg: Eggs are white, circular and slightly flat and approximately 0.8 mm in diameter. Eggs are laid on flowers from emergence to the end of flowering. Egg period is 5 days.
• Larva: Larvae complete their development within the fruit. The red coloured caterpillar penetrates the inflorescence and remains in the tissue for 15 days, tunnelling and destroying the tissue. After this phase it moves to the base of the peduncle changing into a pupa. As the caterpillar destroys the tissues of the inflorescence, a resin coloured liquid gum is exuded from the fruitlets, which upon exposure to air becomes reddish coloured and as it solidifies turns dark brown.
• Pupa: Pupa 12 mm long and 5 mm wide with a brown color and a few dark spots. Moth emerges from pupa in 7-11 days.
• Adult: The adult moth has a greyish upper wing surface and a cream color underneath with a wingspan of 28-35 mm. The adult can be found during the day or night, flying in a rapid and haphazard fashion.

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

• Burrowing and feeding activities produce visible damagesymptoms in the form of frass production and a sticky, gummy exudate.
• Mature caterpillars can damage newly opened inflorescences also.
• In severe cases, they bore into the tender buttons and tender nuts as well.
• Delayed spathe opening, yellowing of spadices, presence of small holes with frass and drying patches on the spathe are the external symptoms of attack.
• Natural enemies of inflorescence caterpillar:
• Predators: Predatory ant, lacewings, ladybird beetles, King crow, common mynah, wasp, dragonfly, spider, robber fly, reduviid bug, praying mantis, red ants, big eyed bugs (Geocoris sp), pentatomid bug (Eocanthecona furcellata), earwigs, ground beetles, rove beetles etc.

Red mite

These mites are small and flat, and usually feed on the under surface of leaves. They are slow moving and do not produce silk, as do many tetranychid (spider mite) species.

Biology:

• Egg: The eggs are laid in groups, often near the midrib or depressions in the leaflet. The freshly laid egg is attached to the leaf surface and a fine white stripe (slender hair like structure) as long as or longer than the egg is present at one end. The incubation period is 8 days for fertilized eggs and 7.3 days for unfertilized eggs.
• Larva: The newly hatched larva is red and has three pairs of legs. A blackish tinge may develop on the posterior end of the dorsum after feeding. The larva typically feeds for 3-5 days and then becomes quiescent for 1.7 to 1.9 days before moulting to the protonymphal stage.
• Protonymphs: The reddish protonymph emerges with four pairs of legs and feeds for 2-5 days prior to becoming quiescent. The quiescent phase lasts from 1-4 days before deutonymphs emerge from the exoskeleton. The female protonymph has an ovoid body with a rounded posterior but the male protonymph has a pointed posterior and a nearly triangular body.
• Deutonymphs: Deutonymphs are larger than protonymphs but resemble protonymphs with regard to feeding and other habits. The active phase lasts 2-5 days and the subsequent quiescent phase lasts from 2-4 days.
• Adult: Females develop dark markings on the dorsum of the body after feeding. The dorsum is smooth, except for the presence of punctae (sculptured depressions). The male is smaller, but similar to the female in shape except for having a tapering of the posterior end of the body. Adult females are larger than males and less active. The life cycle from egg to adult typically requires 23 to 28 days for females and 20 to 22 days for males.

Damage symptoms:

• The reddish mites are easily seen against green leaves.
• Heavy infestations of the mites are typically on the lower surface of the leaves, and yellow speckles and blotches on the leaves are seen from the feeding damage.
• Yellowing of the leaves may often be severe.

Natural enemies of red mites:

Predators: Staphylinid beetle, predatory mite etc.

White mite

Biology:

• Egg: Adults lay light yellowish rounded eggs on lower surface of leaves.
• Nymph: Nymphs are smaller in size than adults.
• Adult: Adults are greyish green with black blotches scattered over dorsum. Adults possess 4 pairs of legs. There are 30 overlapping generation in a year

Damage symptoms:

• Adults and nymphs present on the lower surface of leaves.
• Adult males feed very little and the main damage is caused by the females and immature stages.
• The colony is found under white webs.
• Feeds on lower surface of arecanut leaves.

Natural enemies of white mite:

Predators: Anthocorid bug, syrphid/hover fly, green lacewing, ladybird beetle, predatory mites etc

Burrowing nematode

Damage symptoms:

• Infested palms show general yellowing, reducing growth, vigour and yield
• Appearance of orange-coloured lesions, blackening of tips of lateral and tertiary roots and rotting of roots

IPM for Arecanut

To know the IPM practices for Arecanut, click here.

Source: NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine Storage

 

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28 ratings and

Arecanut Beneficial Insects

1. Parasitoids
1. Egg parasitoid
2. Larval parasitoid
2. Predators
3. IPM for Arecanut

Natural Enemies of Arecanut Insect Pests

Parasitoids

Egg parasitoid

Larval parasitoid

Predators

IPM for Arecanut

To know the IPM practices for Arecanut, click here.

Source: NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

3.21   

 

33 ratings and

Arecanut Diseases

1. Koleroga/mahali/fruit rot/bud rot
2. Inflorescence die back
3. Yellow leaf disease
4. Anabe roga/foot rot
5. Bud rot
6. Disease cycles
7. IPM for Arecanut

Koleroga/mahali/fruit rot/bud rot

Disease symptoms:

• Characteristic symptom is rotting and extensive shedding of the immature nuts which lie scattered near the base of the tree.
• Initial symptoms appear as dark green/ yellowish water-soaked lesions on the nut surface near the perianth (calyx).
• The infected nuts lose their natural green lusture, quality and hence have a low market value.
• The lesions on the fruits gradually spread covering the whole surface before or after shedding which consequently rot.
• White mycelial mass envelopes on entire surface of the fallen nuts.
• As the disease advances the fruit stalks and the axis of the inflorescence rot and dry, sometimes covered with white mycelial mats.
• Infected nuts are lighter in weight and possess large vacuoles.
• When infection occurs later in the season, it leads to rotting and drying up of nuts without shedding (known as ‘Dry Mahali’).

Survival and spread:

• Disease spreads through heavy winds and rain splashes.
• The fruit bunches infected towards the end of rainy season may remain mummified on the palm and such nuts provide inoculum for bud rot or crown rot or the recurrence of fruit rot in the next season.

Favourable conditions:

• The severity, persistence and spread of fruit rot are related to the pattern of rain. The disease appears usually 15 to 20 days after the onset of regular monsoon rains and may continue up to the end of the rainy season.
• Continuous heavy rainfall coupled with low temperature (20 to 23 °C), high relative humidity 90%) and intermittent rain and sunshine hours favour the outbreak of fruit rot

Inflorescence die back

Disease symptoms:

• Disease appears on rachillae of the male flowers and then in the main rachis as brownish patches which soon spreads from tip downwards covering the entire rachis causing wilting.
• The female flowers of the infected rachis shed and the whole inflorescence shows ‘die back’ symptom.
• The fruiting bodies of the fungus (conidia) appear as concentric rings in the discolored areas.
• The disease is severe mostly during dry condition (February-March).
• Button shedding followed by die-back of inflorescence is a severe problem in arecanut plantations during monsoon periods.

Survival and spread:

• Spread is through air borne conidia.

Yellow leaf disease

Disease symptoms:

• Yellowing of tips of leaflets in 2 or 3 leaves of outermost whorl.
• Brown necrotic streaks run parallel to veins in unfolded leaves.
• The yellowing extends to the middle of the lamina. Tips of the chlorotic leaves dry up. In advanced stage all the leaves become yellow.
• Yellowing of leaves is conspicuous during October to December.
• Finally the crown leaves fall off leaving a bare trunk. Root tips turn black and gradually rot

Survival and spread:

• Phytoplasma Like Organism (Phytoplasma)
• Vector: Plant hopper (Proutista moesta)

Anabe roga/foot rot

Disease symptoms:

• The leaf lets in outer whorls become yellow and spreads to the whole leaf and the leaves droop down covering the stem.
• Later, the inner whorl leaves also become yellow. Subsequently all the leaves droop, dry up and fall off, leaving the stem alone.
• Then the stem becomes brittle and easily broken by heavy wind.
• The base of the stem shows brown discoloration and oozing of dark fluid.
• Bracket shaped fructifications of the fungus called ‘anabe’ appears at the base of the trunk.
• Roots become discoloured, brittle and dried.
• When infected trunk is cut open brown discoloration can be seen up to one metre from ground level.

Survival and spread:

• The disease is severe in neglected, ill-drained and over-crowded gardens especially with hard, black loamy acid soils of higher iron and calcium contents.
• Soil borne, but secondary spread is through air-borne spores.

Bud rot

Disease symptoms:

• Initial symptom is the characteristic change of spindle leaf colour from green to yellow and then brownish.
• The leaves rot and the growing bud rots causing death of the palm.
• The affected young leaf whorl can be easily pulled off.
• The outer leaves also become yellow and droop down one by one leaving a bare stem.

Disease cycles

Anabe roga or foot rot

Bud rot

IPM for Arecanut

To know the IPM practices for Arecanut, click here.

Source: NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

3.07   

 

29 ratings and

Arecanut Pests

1. Pests of National Significance
2. Weeds
3. Pests of Regional Significance
4. IPM for Arecanut

Pests of National Significance

Insect and mite pests

• Spindle bug: Carvalhoia/ arecae Miller & China (Hemiptera: Miridae)
• Inflorescence caterpillar: Tirathaba mundella Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)
• Pentatomid bug: Halyomorpha marmorea (Fab.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)
• Root grub: Leucopholis burmeisteri Brenske), Leucopholis lepidophora Blanch (Coleoptera: Melolonthidae)
• White mite/sorghum mite: Oligonychus indicus Hirst (Acarina: Tetranychidae)
• Red mite/palm mite: Raoiella indica Hirst (Acarina: Tenuipalpidae)

Diseases

• Koleroga or mahali or fruit rot: Phytophthora meadii McRae
• Inflorescence die back: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz.
• Anabe roga or basal stem rot or foot rot: Ganoderma lucidum (Leys) Karst
• Bud rot or crown rot: Phytophthora meadii McRae
• Yellow leaf disease: Phytoplasma disease transmitted by the plant hopper, Proutista moesta (Hemiptera: Derbidae)

Nematode

• Burrowing nematode: Radopholus similis (Cobb) Thorne

Rodents

• Lesser bandicoot: Bandicota bengalensis (Gray) (throughout India)
• Palm rat/house rat: Rattus rattus (Linnaeus) (throughout India)

Weeds

Grasses

• Barnyard grass: Echinochloa crusgalli (L.) Beauv. (Poaceae)
• Bermuda grass: Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (Poaceae)
• Congo grass: Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch. (Poaceae)
• Goose grass: Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertner. (Poaceae)

Broadleaf

• Pigweed: Amaranthus viridis Hook. F. (Amaranthaceae)
• Common purselane: Portulaca oleracea L. (Portualacaceae)
• False amaranth: Digera arvensis Forssk. (Amaranthaceae)
• Carrot grass: Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Asteraceae)
• Goat weed: Ageratum conyzoides L. (Asteraceae)
• Coat buttons: Tridax procumbens L. (Fabaceae)
• Crofton weed: Eupatorium odoratum L. syn Chromolaena odorata L. R.M. king & H. Rob (Asteraceae)
• Mile a minute: Mickania micrantha H.B.K. (Asteraceae)
• Sensative plants: Mimosa pudica L. (Fabaceae)
• Horse purslane: Trianthema portulacastrum L. (Aizoaceae)

Sedges

• Purple nutsedge: Cyperus rotundus L. (Cyperaceae)
• Flat sedge: Cyperus iria L. (Cyperaceae)

Pests of Regional Significance

Insect pests

• Scale insects: res scale: Aonidiella orientalis Newstead; mussel scale: Ischnaspis longinostris (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)
• Stem weevil: Diocalandra stigmaticollis Gyll. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Storage pests

• Arecanut beetle: Caccotrypes carpophagus Horn (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)
• Coffee bean weevil: Araecerus fasciculatus D. (Coleoptera: Anthribidae)
• Cigarette beetle: Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae)
• Rice moth: Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) (Lepidoptera: Galleriidae)

Diseases

• Collar rot of seedlings: Fusarium spp., Rhizoctonia spp.
• Stem bleeding: Thielaviopsis paradoxa Von. Hon.

Diseases in storage

• Aspergillus niger van Tieghem, A. flavus Link., A. chivalieri
• Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat
• Rhizopus sp.

Weeds Broad leaf

• Ragweed: Ambrosia psilostachya DC. (Asteraceae)
• Field bindweed: Convolvulus arvensis L. (Convolvulaceae) Sedges
• Yellow nutsedge: Cyperus esculentus L. (Cyperaceae)
• Flat sedge: Cyperus difformis L. (Cyperaceae)

IPM for Arecanut

To know the IPM practices for Arecanut, click here.

Source: NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

2.82   

 

18 ratings and

Betelivine Pests

1. Pests of National Significance in Sunflower
1. Insect Pests
2. Diseases
3. Nematodes:
2. Weeds
1. Broad leaf
3. Rodents
4. Pests of Regional Significance
1. Insect Pests
2. Diseases
3. Nematodes
5. IPM for Betelivine

Pests of National Significance in Sunflower

Insect Pests

• Scale insect: Lepidosaphes ulmi L. (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)
• Betelvine bug: Disphinctus politus Walk. (Hemiptera: Miridae)
• Mealy bug: Ferrisia virgata Cockerell (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)
• Whitefly: Dialeurodes pallida Singh (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)
• Red spider mites: Tetranychus Dufour (Arachnida: Tetranychidae)

Diseases

• Leaf stem and foot rot: Phytophthora spp.
• Leaf spot or anthracanose: Colletotrichum capsici (Syd.) E.J. Butler & Bisby
• Sclerotial wilt or collar rots: Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc.
• Powdery mildew: Oidium piperis Uppal, Kamat & Patel
• Bacterial leaf spot: Xanthomonas campestris Dowson Nematodes

Nematodes:

• Root-knot nematodes: Meloidogyne incognita Kofoid & White (Tylenchida: Heteroderidae)
• Reniform nematode: Rotylenchulus reniformis Linford and Oliveira (Tylenchida: Hoplolaimidae)

Weeds

Broad leaf

• Yellow sweet clover: Melilotus indica (L.) All. (Fabaceae)
• Lambs quarter: Chenopodium album L. (Chenopodiaceae)
• Creeping Thistle: Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop (Asteraceae)
• Batthal: Launea nudicaulis (L.) Hook.f. (Asteraceae)
• Joyweed: Alternenthera sessiles (L.) R.Br. ex DC. (Amaranthaceae)
• Creeping wood sorrel: Oxalis corniculata L. (Oxalidaceae)
• Punarnava: Boerhavia diffusa L. (Nyctaginaceae)
• Common puruselene: Portulaee oleraceae L. (Portulacaceae)
• Common sorrel: Rumex dentatus L. (Polygonaceae)
• Horse purslane: Trianthema portulacastrurn L. (Aizoaceae) Grasses
• Bermuda grass: Cynodon dactylon L. (Poaceae)
• Blue grass: Poa annua L. (Poaceae) Sedges
• Nut grass: Cyperus rotundus L. (Cyperaceae)
• Flat sedge: Cyperus iria L. (Cyperaceae)

Rodents

• Lesser bandicoot: Bandicota bengalensis Gray
• Black rat: Rattus rattus L.

Pests of Regional Significance

Insect Pests

• Black fly: Aleurocanthus woglumi Singh (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)
• Thrips: Thrips tabaci L. (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)—West Bengal
• Aphids: Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae)-West Bengal
• Yellow mite: Hetnyersonemus lotus -West Bengal

Diseases

• Fusarium wilt: Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc- West Bengal

Nematodes

• Stunt nematodes: Tylenchorhynchus sp- Bihar

IPM for Betelivine

To know the IPM practices for Betelivine, click here.

Source: NIPHM; Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

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29 ratings

Betelvine Beneficial insects

1. Natural Enemies of Betelvine Insect Pests
1. Parasitoids
2. Predators
2. IPM for Betelvine

Natural Enemies of Betelvine Insect Pests

Parasitoids

Nymphal/larval and adult parasitoids

Predators

IPM for Betelvine

To know the IPM practices for Betelvine, click here.

Source: NIPHM Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

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24 ratings

Betelvine Crop Stage Wise IPM

1. Pre-planting/Nursery stage
2. Planting*
3. Vegetative
4. Spike formation/flowering stage

Stage wise Management	Activity
Pre-planting/Nursery stage
	Common cultural practices: Deep ploughing of fields during summer to manage nematodes population, to expose pupae, propagules of soil borne pathogens and weeds before establishment of the vineyard Soil solarization is advocated before the establishment of new garden for better plant stand and to minimize initial disease inoculum levels for nematodes and resting stages of insects, diseases and weeds. Planting should be done timely and adopt proper spacing, irrigation and fertilizer management. Avoid application of high nitrogenous fertilizer. Field sanitation Adopt ecological engineering by growing the attractant, repellent, and trap crops around the field bunds
Nutrients	Apply farmyard manure @ 10 tons per acre as basal dressing in the last ploughing. The land is laid out into ridges and furrows 45 cm apart and irrigation channels formed at convenient places. In saline and alkaline soils, apply gypsum @ 1.0 ton per acre and plough the field before sowing live standards
Weeds	Destroy all the weeds from planting area after deep ploughing during summer. Remove all the perennial weds and their rhizomes/suckers before onset of monsoon.
Soil and seed borne pathogens, Nematodes	Cultural control: Trimming of field bunds will destroy the existing rodents. Mechanical control: The affected cutting along with defoliated leaves should be removed from nursery and destroyed. Biological control: To boost the crop use neem cake @ 40 Kg/acre under assured moisture condition in nematode infested field only
Planting*
Nutrients	Apply nutrients based on soil test report and recommendation for the zone. In general, apply 60 kg N/acre/year 50 percent through Neem cake and 50 % through Urea. Apply 40 kg P2O5 and 20 kg K2O at the time of planting
Weeds	Ploughing and levelling of field before setting up of betelvine bareja as well as standing crop. Drip irrigation should be adopted to reduce weed problem. Drip irrigation produce significantly maximum vine elongation, number of branches and of leaves per ha. Follow the recommended agronomic management practices of land preparation, plant spacing, fertilizer and irrigation etc. to have healthy plants stand. Care should be taken to avoid direct contact of fertilizers with the roots of betelvine.
Nematodes, and soil borne disease	Cultural control: Select healthy and disease free planting materials. Use resistant tolerant varieties. The incidence of diseases viz., Foot rot can be reduced by application of drip irrigation. In open type of shorter duration of 2-3 years the desirable cropping sequence has to be worked to minimize the population of soil borne pathogens Neem cake @ one Kg/pit may be mixed with the mixture at the time of planting.
* Note: Apply Trichoderma viride/harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens as seed and soil application (If Commercial products are used, check for label claim. However, biopesticides produced by farmers for own consumption in their fields, registration is not required).
Vegetative
	Common cultural practices: Provide irrigation at critical stages of the crop Avoid water stress and water stagnation conditions. Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when larval parasitoids are observed The soil used for earthing up should be either sun dried or disinfested by chemical. Common mechanical practices: Collection and destruction of visible eggs, and larvae of inset pests. Collect and destroy diseased and insect infected plant parts Use yellow sticky traps for aphids and whitefly and blue sticky traps for thrips @ 4-5 traps/acre. Set up bonfire during evening hours at 7-8 pm. Common biological practices: Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering Augmentative release of natural enemies.
Nutrients	Table 1. Fertilizers requirement of betelvine Time of application N P K Basal dressing 15 40 20 Top dressing @ 3 split doses 45 0 0 Total 60 40 20 15 days after lifting the vines while second and third dose at 40 - 45 days intervals as mentioned in Table 1. The manures and fertilizers are applied around the vine at a distance of 30 cm from the base and incorporated into the soil.
Weeds	Pull out weeds before flowering by 2-3 rounds of hand tool weeding. Slash weeding is a cost-effective method and to keep a cover always over the soil. Mulching with dry/green leaves or organic matter @ 10 Kg should be given to control weed growth and to prevent sun scorching of young vines during summer. Mulching by black polyethylene sheet or organic matter between the rows be adopted to manage the weeds
Phytophthora foot rot, Sclerotial wilt or collar rot or Fusarial wilt**	Cultural control: Removal and destruction of dead vines along with root system from the garden is essential as this reduces the build up of inoculum (fungal population). Planting material must be collected from disease free gardens and the nursery preferably raised in fumigated or solarized soil. Adequate drainage should be provided to reduce water stagnation. Injury to the root system due to cultural practices such as digging should be avoided. The freshly emerging runner shoots should not be allowed to trail on the ground. They must either be tied back to the standard or pruned off. The branches of support trees must be pruned at the onset of monsoon to avoid build up of humidity and for better penetration of sunlight. Reduced humidity and presence of sunlight reduces the intensity of leaf infection. For foot rot: Chemical control: Copper oxychloride 50% WP @ 1 Kg in 300-400 l of water/acre
Leaf spot or anthracanose	Cultural control: Eradication of affected vine from vineyard. Apply phytosanitation process. Irrigation by rose can.
Powdery mildew	Cultural control: Cultural practices that reduce humidity within the vineyard, enable good air circulation through the canopy, and provide good light exposure to all leaves and clusters aid in managing powdery mildew. Use an under vine irrigation system and manage it carefully, excess can favour the disease
Bacterial leaf spot	Cultural control: Collecting and burning the infected plant parts minimizes the spread of the disease. Increase air circulation in the vineyard. ‘ Remove disease cane from the vineyard during normal pruning operations in the dormant season. Follow up hand pruning.
Thrips**	Cultural control: The recommendation on shade management, if adopted, will help to prevent the excessive built up of thrips and mites Regular field assessment Biological control: See common practices.
Aphids	Cultural control: Reflective mulches such as silver colored plastic can deter aphids from feeding on plants. Sturdy plants can be sprayed with a strong jet of water to knock aphids from leaves For other follow common practices. Biological control: See common biological practices.
Mealy bug	Cultural control: Removal of weeds and alternate host plants like hibiscus, bhindi, custard apple, guava etc in and nearby vineyards throughout the year. Deep ploughing in summer or raking of soil in vineyards helps to destroy its nymphal stages and minimizing the incidence. Biological control: Release exotic predator, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri @ 10 beetles/vine. Physical control: Detrash the crop on 150 and 210 DAP
Scale insects	Cultural control: Initiate control measures during early stages of pest infestation. Select scale free seed vines. For other follow common practices. Biological control: In nurseries spraying neem oil 0.3 per cent or fish oil rosin 3.0 per cent is also effective in controlling the pest infestation. Conserve the natural enemies.
Whitefly	Cultural control: Field sanitation and rogueing of alternate hosts. A regularly maintained program of hedging and topping can help avoid whitefly problems For others see common practices. Biological control: See common biological practices.
Spike formation/flowering stage
Nutrients	Apply deficient micronutrient if any
Weeds	Left over weeds may be removed before shedding of their seeds
Leaf spot, powdery mildews	Same as in vegetative stage.
Mites (red and yellow)	Cultural control: The recommendation on shade management, if adopted, will help to prevent the excessive built up of mites Grow nurseries away from infested crops and avoid planting next to infested fields the water holding capacity and reduce evaporation Keep perennial hedges such as pigeon peas, they are said to encourage predatory mites Uproot and burn infested plants. This can be successful during the early stages of infestation when the mites concentrate on a few plants Keep the field free of weeds Remove and burn infested crop residues immediately after harvest Biological control: Conserve the natural enemies
Betelevine bugs, black fly	Mechanical control: See common practices
Aphids, Thrips, Whitefly, Mealybugs	Same as vegetative stage.

Source: NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

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24 ratings and

Betelvine Diseases

1. Leaf stem and foot rot
2. Leaf spot or anthracnose
3. Fusarium wilt
4. Sclerotial wilt or collar rot:
5. Powdery mildew or Basal rot:
6. Bacterial leaf spot/Bacterial stem rot:
7. Disease cycle:
8. IPM for Betelvine

Leaf stem and foot rot

Disease symptoms:

• Most destructive fungal disease that produces both a wet rot symptom on leaves and wilting due to foot rot.
• At first circular, dark brown spots appear which become wet and rot under continuous high humid conditions
• Otherwise dark brown necrotic spots with alternate light brown zonations appear.
• Loss of lustre of the leaves in the foot rot condition followed by total wilting and drying of the vines occur in a quick sequence
• Root system of the affected plant is damaged. Lateral roots are completely destroyed. Disease occurs mostly in patches and the vines wilt and die. In a week's time, 80 to 90 per cent of the vines wilt and die

Survival and spread:

• Fungus survives in disease plant debris as well as soil. These vines may recover after the rains and survive for more than two seasons till the root infection culminates in collar rot and death of the vine.

Favourable conditions:

• Rains during July onwards favour the development of disease.

Leaf spot or anthracnose

Disease symptoms:

• Leaf spots are irregular in shape and size, light to dark brown surrounded by diffuse chlorotic yellow halo.
• Marginal leaf tissue becomes black, necrotic and gradually spreads towards the leaf centre.
• Occasionally diffused yellow halo also develops.
• In the anthracnose stage circular, black lesions that occur rapidly increase in size and girdle the stem culminating in the death of the vine.

Survival and spread:

• The primary infection by sowing infected seeds and secondary by wind.

Favourable conditions:

• Rain and high humidity are responsible for the development of disease.

Fusarium wilt

Disease symptoms:

• Plants show the yellowing of leaves and wilts gradually. Often sudden wilting and drying up entire plant takes place. Vascular discoloration of plant.

Survival and spread:

• Chlamydospores survive in soil, conidia spread through irrigation water.
• Secondary infection by conidia through rain or wind

Favourable conditions:

• High temperature and high relative humidity favour the development of disease.

Sclerotial wilt or collar rot:

Disease symptoms:

• Darkening of the stem at the foot of the plant, near ground level. The leaves turn yellow, become flaccid and droop off.
• Ultimately the whole vine wilts and dries up.
• The darkened portion of the stem becomes shrinked, soft and turn black.
• On the affected stem portion, white ropy fan shaped mycelial strands developed.
• Brown to dark brown sclerotia appears on the infected portion

Survival and spread:

• Disease is soil borne and pathogen survives in soil which is the source of primary infection.

Favourable conditions:

• The disease is mainly noticed in nurseries during June-September and is caused by Sclerotium rolfsii.

Powdery mildew or Basal rot:

Symptoms:

• White to light brown powdery patches appears on lower surface of the leaves, later these increases in size.
• Early leaf infection appears as light grey spots which gradually enlarge and so on powdery mass of fungal growth covers the lower surface of the leaf.
• Under ideal conditions both the leaf surface gets covered by the white floury mass of fungal growth resulting in early leaf fall.

Survival and spread:

• The fungus survives in the form of a resting mycelium or encapsulated haustoria in the crop debris.
• Secondary spread occurs through wind borne conidia

Favourable conditions:

• Cool weather coupled with mild temperature favour the development of disease.

Bacterial leaf spot/Bacterial stem rot:

Disease symptoms:

• Minute water soaked lesions appear on all over the leaf blade which delimited by veins.
• These coalesce to form large irregular brown spots.
• The affected leaves defoliate prematurely.

Survival and spread:

• The pathogens survive in soil, Bacteria spread through irrigation water

Favourable conditions:

High temperature and high relative humidity favour the development of disease.

Disease cycle:

Foot rot:

Fusarium wilt:

Sclerotial wilt or collar rot:

Powdery mildew:

Anthracnose:

IPM for Betelvine

To know the IPM practices for Betelvine, click here.

Source: NIPHM ;Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

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31 ratings and

Betelvine Insect Pests

1. Scale insect
2. Red spider mite
3. Yellow mite
4. Thrips
5. Shoot bug
6. Aphids
7. Mealybug
8. Whitefly
9. Root knot nematode
10. IPM for Betelvine

Scale insect

Biology:

• Scales have unusual life cycles.
• The eggs are laid underneath the waxy covering and hatch over a period of one to three weeks.
• The newly hatched scales (called crawlers) move about over the plant until they locate succulent new growth.
• They insert their piercing-sucking mouthparts into the plant and begin feeding. Female scales lose their legs and antennae during the first molt.
• They molt a second time before reaching maturity and do not pupate.
• The cast skins (exuviae) are incorporated in the scale cover.
• Male scales go through two additional molts and pupate underneath the wax. Adult males are tiny two-winged, gnat-like insects without mouthparts.
• Lepidosaphes is small, dark, boat shaped.

Damage symptoms:

Both nymph and adults infest the leaves, petioles and main veins. The scale infested leaves loose their colour, exhibit warty appearance, crinkle and dry up ultimately. The affected vines present a sticky appearance and wilt in due course.

Natural enemies of scales:

• Parasitoids: Encarsia citrine, Aphytis sp.
• Predators: Bdella sp. Aleurodothrips jasciatus, Karnyothrips melaleucus, Chilocorus circumdatus, C. nigrita, Pharoscymnus horn; Pseudoscymnus, Lacewings, mirids, Pytoseiids beetles

Red spider mite

Biology:

• Egg: Eggs are reddish, spherical, provided with a small filament. Incubation period is 4-6 days, before hatching becomes light orange colour.
• Nymph: Upon hatching, it will pass through a larval stage and two nymphal stages before becoming adult. Developmental stages include six legged larva, protonymph and deutonymph.
• Adult: Adult female is elliptical in shape, bright crimson anteriorly and dark pruplish brown posteriorly. Mites spin a web of silken threads on the leaf. Each developmental stage is followed by a quiescent stage and life cycle completed in 10-14 days.

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

• Spider mites usually extract the cell contents from the leaves using their long, needlelike mouthparts. This results in reduced chlorophyll content in the leaves, leading to the formation of white or yellow speckles on the leaves.
• In severe infestations, leaves will completely desiccate and drop off. The mites also produce webbing on the leaf surfaces in severe conditions. Under high population densities, the mites move to using strands of silk to form a ball-like mass, which will be blown by winds to new leaves or plants, in a process known as “ballooning.”

Natural enemies of mites:

Predators: Anthocorid bugs (Orius spp.), mirid bugs, syrphid/hover flies, green lacewings (Mallada basalis and Chrysoperla zastrowi sillemi), predatory mites (Amblyseius alstoniae, A. womersleyi, A. fallacies and Phytoseiulus persimilis), predatory coccinellids (Stethorus punctillum), staphylinid beetle (Oligota spp.), predatory cecidomyiid fly (Anthrocnodax occidentalis), predatory gall midge (Feltiella minuta), spiders etc.

Yellow mite

Biology:

• Egg: Eggs are oval shaped large, obovate, flattened at the bottom and white in colour. Eggs are glued firmly on the leaf surface and hatches after 27-32 hours
• Nymph: Nymphs white in colour.
• Adult: Adults large, oval and broad and yellowish in colour. Females are yellowish and bigger than the males and they carrying the “female nymphs” on their back.

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

• Mite is seen on young leaves especially the top two to three leaves and the bud.
• Affected leaves become rough and brittle and with corky lines.
• Downward curling.
• Internodes get shortened

Thrips

Biology:

• Egg: White to yellow, kidney-bean shaped, microscopic in size. Develop within leaf tissue with one end near the leaf surface. Egg stage is 5-10 days.
• Larva: Instars I and II are active, feeding stages. White to pale yellow, elongate and slender body. Resemble adult, but without wings. Antennae are short and eyes are dark in color. Feed on new leaves in the center of the onion neck. Crawl quickly when disturbed. Larval stage is 10-14 days.
• Pre-pupa and pupa: Instars III and IV are inactive, non-feeding stages called pre-pupa and pupa. Pale yellow to brown; body more stout than younger instars. Antennae are bent to head; wing buds are visible. Found in the soil, at the base of the onion plant neck, or underneath bulb scales. Lasts 5-10 days.
• Adult: About 1.5 mm long; elongate, yellow and brown body with two pairs of fringed (hairy) wings. Mouthparts are beak-like and antennae are 7-segmented. Spend the winter in protected sites under plants and debris in onion, alfalfa and small grain fields, and other plant habitats. In the spring when temperatures warm, adults fly to new onion fields. Parthenogenic (asexually reproducing) females; males are extremely rare. Feed on young leaves in center of onion neck and insert eggs individually into leaves. Fly readily when disturbed. Adult life span is about 1 month; pre-oviposition period (time before egg-laying begins) is 1 week and females will lay eggs for about 3 weeks.

Life cycle

Damage symptoms:

Thrips prefer to feed on the newly emerged leaves. Under crowded conditions, they will move toward leaf tips to feed. Both adult and larval thrips feed within the mesophyll layer using a punch-and suck motion. The beak and mandible is thrust forward to puncture the leaf epidermis and sap released from injured plant cells is sucked up. Removal of chlorophyll causes the feeding area to appear white to silvery in color. Areas of leaf injury can occur as patches and streaks. When feeding injury is severe, leaves take on a silvery cast and can wither. Tiny black “tar” spots of thrips excrement are evident on leaves with heavy feeding injury.

Natural enemies of thrips:

• Parasitoids: Ceranisus menes (nymph).
• Predators: Syrphid flies, minute pirate bug/anthocorid bug (Blaptosthethus sp, Buchananiella whitei, Orius tantilus), praying mantis, predatory thrips (Aeolothrips fasciatum), damsel bug, lace wings, coccinellids (Menochilus sexmaculatus), spiders etc.

Shoot bug

Biology:

• The adult is reddish brown bug. It thrusts its eggs singly within the tender plant parts. Egg period 8 - 16 days. Fecundity 72 eggs/female. Nymphal period 12 - 18 days. The incidence of this pest is severe in June to October.

Damage symptoms:

• Both nymph and adults suck the sap from the tender leaves causing leaf blotches leading to ultimate drying.

Aphids

Biology:

• Egg: Eggs are very tiny, shiny-black, and are found in the crevices of bud, stems, and barks of the plant. Aphids usually do not lay eggs in warm parts of the world.
• Nymph: Nymphs (immature stages) are young aphids, they look like the wingless adults but are smaller. They become adults within 7 to 10 days.
• Adult: Adults are small, 1 to 4 mm long, soft-bodied insects with two long antennae that resemble horns. Most aphids have two short cornicles (horns) towards the rear of the body

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

• Infesting tender shoots and under surface of the leaves.
• Curling and crinkling of leaves
• Stunted growth
• Development of black sooty mould due to the excretion of honeydew

Natural enemies of aphids:

• Parasitoids: Aphelinus spp. Aphytis spp., Diaeretiella rapae
• Predators: Ladybird beetles viz., Coccinella septempunctata, Menochilus sexmaculatus, Hippodamia variegata and Menochilus vicina, Syrphid fly: Sphaerophoria spp., Eristallis spp., Metasyrphis spp., Xanthogramma spp. and Syrphus spp.Lacewing: Chrysoperla zastrowi sillemi, Aphid midge: Aphidoletes aphidimyza, Predatory bird: Motacilla cospica
• Entomopathogenic fungi : Cephalosporium spp., Entomophthora and Verticillium lecani

Mealybug

Biology:

• Egg: Eggs are deposited as white cottony masses called ovisacs. The glossy, light yellow eggs are oval and approximately 0.3 mm long. A female lay 300 to 600 eggs in a life period, which are deposited in groups of 5 to 20.
• Nymph: Nymphs emerge from the ovisacs and typically settle along midribs and veins on the underside of leaves and young twigs. Wax and honeydew secreted by crawlers are visible indicators of infestations. The nymphs are yellow, oval-shaped with red eyes, and covered with white waxy particles The female nymphs resemble the adult female in appearance, while male nymphs are more elongated. Female nymphs have four instars.
• Adult: Adult size ranges in length from 3 mm (females) to 4.5 mm (males). The females are wingless, white to light brown in color, with brown legs and antennae. The body of adult females is coated with white wax and bears a characteristic faint gray stripe along their dorsal side. Short waxy filaments can be seen around the margins of their oval body with a slightly longer pair of filaments present at the rear end of their body.

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

• Young plants – susceptible for heavy infestation.
• Infest tender branches, nodes, leaves, spikes, berries and roots
• Both nymphs and adults suck the sap from the leaves.
• Severe infestation - Chlorotic leaves, aborted flower buds and small berries
• Honey dew excrete – development of sooty mould fungus (affects photosynthesis)

Natural enemies of mealybugs:

• Parasitoid: Leptomastix dactylopii etc.
• Predators: Ladybird beetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, spider, reduviid etc

Whitefly

Biology:

• Egg: The whitefly lays yellow eggs with a nearly smooth surface, distinguishing them from eggs of the cloudy winged whitefly, which are yellow when freshly laid, but soon turn black and have a surface that is netted with a system of ridges.
• Nymph: The nymph is a flat, elliptical, scale-like object, closely fastened to the underside of a leaf. It becomes fixed after the first molt. The nymphs, after the first instar, are flattened, oval, and are similar in appearance to the early instars of the unarmored scale insects. Like the scale insects, whiteflies lose their normal legs and antennae after the first molt (they are kept, but are abbreviated), but unlike the scale insects, the females gain them back in the adult stage. The nymphs of the whitefly lack a fringe of conspicuous, white, waxy plates or rods extending out from the margin of the body, which characterizes some species of whiteflies. Nymphs of both species are translucent, oval in outline, and very thin. Because the green color of the leaf shows through the body, nymphs are difficult to see. Pupae are similar but are thickened and are somewhat opaque, and eye spots of the developing adult may show through the pupal skin.
• Adult: The adult is a tiny, mealy-white insect with four mealy-white wings that expand less than 1/8 of an inch. The adults of both sexes have two pairs of wings covered with a white, powdery wax which gives the insects their common name. In the middle of each wing, cloudy winged whitefly adults have a darkened area which is lacking in the wings of the whitefly, and the wings fold to a flatter position than those of the whitefly.

Life cycle:

Damage symptoms:

Both nymph and adults suck the sap from the tender leaves causing yellowing, chlorotic spots and shooty mould development on leaves.

Natural enemies of whitefly:

• Parasitoids: Cryptognatha spp. (egg), Encarsia sp, Eretmocerus sp, Chrysocharis pentheus (nymphal)
• Predators: Mirid bug (Dicyphus hesperus), dragonfly, spider, Ladybird beetle, lacewings, mites, ants, and a species of thrips, Aleurodothrips fasciapennis

Root knot nematode

Biology:

• Most species of plant parasitic nematodes have a relatively simple life cycle consisting of the egg, four larval stages and the adult male and female.
• Development of the first stage larvae occurs within the egg where the first molt occurs. Second stage larvae hatch from eggs to find and infect plant roots or in some cases foliar tissues.
• Under suitable environmental conditions, the eggs hatch and new larvae emerge to complete the life cycle within 4 to 8 weeks depending on temperature.
• Nematode development is generally most rapid within an optimal soil temperature range of 70 to 80°F.

Life cycle

Damage symptoms:

• Infected plants in patches in the field
• Formation of galls on host root system is the primary symptom
• Roots branch profusely starting from the gall tissue causing a ‘beard root’ symptom
• Infected roots become knobby and knotty
• In severely infected plants the root system is reduced and the rootlets are almost completely absent. The roots are seriously hampered in their function of uptake and transport of water and nutrients
• Plants wilt during the hot part of day, especially under dry conditions and are often stunted
• Nematode infection predisposes plants to fungal and bacterial root pathogens

Survival and spread:

• Primary: Egg masses in infected plant debris and soil or collateral and other hosts like Solonaceous, Malvaceous and Leguminaceous plants act as sources of inoculums.
• Secondary: Autonomous second stage juveniles that may also be water dispersed.

Favourable conditions: Loamy light soils.

IPM for Betelvine

 

 

To know the IPM practices for Betelvine, click here.

Source: NIPHM; Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

2.91   

 

23 ratings

Betelvine Nutrient deficiencies

1. Nitrogen Deficiency
2. Chloride Toxicity
3. IPM for Betelvine

Nitrogen Deficiency

Reduced plant growth with yellowish green to yellow leaves. Lower leaves senesces and drop. Apply N as top dressing as per recommended dose. 

Apply 2 % urea as foliar spray.

 

Chloride Toxicity

It can be prominently seen when betelvine crop is grown in salty soils or when water containing high salt level is used for irrigation

IPM for Betelvine

 

 

To know the IPM practices for Betelvine, click here.

Source: NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage

 

 

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