Ear Head caterpillar: Helicoverpa armigera
Symptom of damage:
- Earheads are partially eaten with chalky appearance
- Feacal pellets are visible within the ear heads
Identification of the pest:
- Egg: 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 debris
- 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
Management:
ETL: 2/earhead
- Set up of light traps till mid night to monitor, attract and kill adults of stem borer, grain midge and earhead caterpillars
- Set up sex pheromone traps at 12/ha to attract male moths of Helicoverpa armigera from flowering to grain hardening.
- Two applications of NPV at 10 days interval at 1.5 X1012 POB along with crude sugar 2.5 kg + cotton seed kernel powder 250 g on the earheads is effective in educing the larval population of Helicoverpa
Source-
- TNAU Agritech Portal
