Cut worm: Spodoptera litura
Symptoms of damage:
- Young larvae feed by scrapping the leaves from ventral surface
- Later on feed voraciously at night on the foliage.
Identification of pest:
- Larva:Pale greenish or brown with dark marking
- Adult:Yellow and purplish spots in the sub marginal areas. Fore wings have wavy white markings, hind wings are whitish with brown patch along the margin.
Management:
- Hand pick and destroy the caterpillar
- Collect and destroy the damaged plant parts
- Summer ploughing to expose to the pupae
- Use light trap
- Spray azinphosethyl or chlorphyriphos
- In severe infestation applyBacillus thuringenesis
- Foliar spray with avanthe 1 ml in 100 ml of water
- Field release of egg parasitoid such as Telenomus spodopterae and Telenomus remus
- Field release of entomopathogenic fungus Nomuraea rileyi
Source-
- TamilNadu Agritech Portal
