Major pests of pomegranate are:-
1.Anar butterfly: Deudorix (Virachola) isocrates
Symptoms of damage:
- Caterpillar bores into young fruits
- Feeds on internal contents (pulp and seeds)
- Fruit rotting and dropping
Identification of pest:
- Larvae – dark brown, short and stout, covered with short hairs
- Adult – bluish brown butterfly
- Female – V-shaped patch on forewing
Management:
- Collect and destroy damaged fruits
- Clean cultivation as weed plants serve as alternate hosts
- Endemic areas – grow less susceptible varieties
- Adopt ETL (5 eggs/plant)
- Cover the fruit with polythene bags when the fruits are up to 5 cm
- Use light trap @ 1/ ha to monitor the activity of adults
- Insecticides: malathion 50 EC 0.1% or dimethoate 30 EC 0.06%, two rounds, one at flower formation and next at fruit set.
- Flowering stage – spray NSKE 5% or neem formulations 2 ml/1
- Apply dimethoate 30 EC 1.5 ml/1.
- Release Trichogramma chilonis at one lakh/acre.
2.Fruit borer: Conogethes punctiferalis
Symptoms of damage:
- Caterpillar bores into young fruits
- Feeds on internal contents (pulp and seeds)
- Dry up and fall off in without ripening
Identification of pest:
- Larva: Pale greenish with a pink tinge and fine hairs with dark head and prothoracic shield.
- Adult: Yellowish moth with black spots on the wing and body
Management:
- Collect and destroy damaged fruits
- Clean cultivation as weed plants serve as alternate hosts
- Use light trap @ 1/ ha to monitor the activity of adults
- Insecticides: malathion 50 EC 0.1% or dimethoate 30 EC 0.06%, two rounds, one at flower formation and next at fruit set.
3.Tailed mealy bug: Ferrisia virgata
Symptoms of damage:
- Premature dropping of fruit.
Identification of pest:
- Nymph: Yellowish to pale white.
- Adult: Females apterous, long, slender covered with white waxy secretions, pair wax filaments at caudal end.
Management:
- Collect and destroy the infested plant parts
- Remove alternate hosts
- Triozhophos 2 ml+ neem oil 5 ml/1, phosalone 35 EC 1.5 ml+ neem oil 5 ml/1.
- Spray methyl demeton 25 EC or monoccrotophos 36 WSC 2ml/lit
- Spray application of dichlorovas 76 WSC 1ml/lit + fish oil rosin soap 25 g/lit
- Release Cryptolaemous montrouzieri beetles @ 10/tree.
4.Whitefly: Siphoninus phillyreae
Symptoms of damage:
- Nymphs and adults suck the sap from leaves
- Honeydew – development of sooty mould fungus
- Yellowing of leaves.
- Dropping of affected leaves.
Identification of pest:
- Nymph – short glass-like rods of wax along the sides of the body
- Adult – Powdery white, active during early morning hours.
Management:
- Field sanitation
- Removal of host plants
- Installation of yellow sticky traps
- Spray Neem oil 3% or NSKE 5%
- Release of predators viz., Coccinellid predator, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri and lace wing fly, Mallada astur
- Release of parasitoids viz., Encarsia haitierrsis and E.guadeloupae
5.Aphid: Aphis punicae
Symptoms of damage:
- Nymphs and adults suck the sap from leaves, shoots and fruits
- Yellowing of leaves
- Wilting of terminal shoots.
Identification of pest:
- Pale green, winged and wingless aphids.
Management:
- Collect and destroy the damaged plant parts
- Use yellow sticky trap
- Spray application of dimethoate 25 EC or methyl demeton 30EC at 2ml/lit for effective management this pest
- Release first instar larva of Chrysoperla carnea @ 15 / flowering branch (four times) at 10 days interval from flower initiation during April.
Source-
- TamilNadu Agritech Portal
