Major pests of Cinnamon are:-
1.Cinnamon butterfly: Chilasa clytia
Symptoms of damage:
- Larvae feed on tender and slightly mature leaves
- In severe cases of infestation, the entire plant is defoliated and only midribs of leaves with portions of veins are left.
Identification of pest:
Eggs: Pale yellow in colour.
Larva
- Undergoes various changes of colour pattern.
- Grown up caterpillar are shaded with deep yellow on sides.
Adult
- The upper side of adult is rich velvety brown.
- Forewing: The upper side has marginal series of spots and terminal series of spots between the veins.
- Hind Wing: The upper side bears a series of long arrow-shaped streaks, yellow and white spots between the veins.
Management:
- Spraying quinalphos 0.05% on tender and partly mature leaves
2.Leaf miners: Conopomorpha civica
Symptoms of damage:
- Larvae feed on the tissues between the upper and lower epidermis of tender leaves resulting in linear mines that end in ‘blister’ like patches.
- The infested leaves become crinkled and the mined areas dry up leading to the formation of large holes on the leaves.
Identification of pest:
- The larvae are pale grey initially and later become pink.
- The adult is a minute silvery grey moth.
Management:
- Spraying quinalphos 0.05% during the emergence of new flushes is effective in preventing the pest infestation.
- Many other leaf feeding caterpillars and beetles also occur sporadically on cinnamon feeding on tender flushes. Application of quinalphos 0.05% would keep them under check.
Source-
- TamilNadu Agritech Portal
