Sorghum midge: Contarinia sorghicola
Symptom of damage:
- Pollen shedding due to egg laying
- White pupal cases protruding out from the grains
- Chaffy grains with holes
Identification of the pest:
- Adult: Fly is small, fragile with a bright orange abdomen and a pair of transparent wings
Management:
- Set up of light traps till midnight to monitor, attract and kill adults of stem borer, grain midge and earhead caterpillars.
- Apply any one of the following on 3rd and 18th day after panicle emergence
- Carbaryl 10 D 25 kg/ha
- Malathion 5 D 25 kg/ha
- Phosalone 4 D 25 kg/ha
- Neem seed kernel extract 5% (or) Spray malathion 50 EC @ 1600 ml/ha or phosalone 1150 ml/ha
- The sowing of sorghum should be completed in as short a time as possible to avoid continuous flowering which favours grain midge and earhead bug multiplication in an area
Source-
- TNAU Agritech Portal
