RAGI

• Pink borer Sesamia inferens

• Lepidoptera:Noctuidae
• Straw colored moth with white hind wings
• Larva pinkish brown with a dark head
• Dead heart
 White borer Saluria inficita
• Lepidoptera:Phycitidae
• Small moth with dark brown
forewings bearing a white
band along the anterior
margin and white hind wing
• Creamy white with yellow
head
 Cut worm Spodoptera exigua

• Lepidoptera:Noctuidae
• Brown moth
• Green with wavy lines on dorsal surface and
lateral yellow stripes
• Defoliation in the nursery
Sesamia inferens
• Black hairy caterpillar Estigmene lactinea
• Arctidae :Lepidoptera
• White moth with crimson markings on head
body and wings
• Stout caterpillar with black head and hairs
• Defoliation
• Aphids
Schizaphis graminum
Hysteroneura setariae
• Root aphid
Tetraneura nigriabdominalis
Aphididae:Hemiptera
Yellowing of leaves
Wilting and drying of plants in patches
• White grub
Holotrichia consanguinea
Melolonthidae :Coleoptera
 TERMITES
Microtermes obesi
Odontotermes obesus Termitidae: Isoptera
They feed on roots, stem of growing plants, even
dead tissues of plants feeding on cellulose.
As a result of damage, there will be wilting and
drying at all stages of wheat crop
Plants may succumb
• MANAGEMENT
· Locating termitarium, digging out queen and destroying
is the only permanent remedy
· Fumigation of ant hill with carbon disulphide or
chloroform mixture
· Destruction of crop residues which form sources of
infestation
· Seed treatment with chlorpyriphos @ 6 ml/kg of seed
· Soil application of chlorpyriphos 50 EC @ 10 ml/l as a
soil drench at sowing time in termite prone soils.
 SORGHUM
Shoot fly
Atherigona soccata Muscidae :Diptera
Female fly is grayish white in colour.
Lay eggs singly on the under side of the leaves.
Eggs are elongate flattened and some what boat shaped and provided with
two wing like lateral projections.
Egg period 1-2 days.
The tiny maggots creep out and reach in between the sheath and axis and
bore into the stem.
They feed inside the main shoot for 6-10 days. Pupation inside the stem or in
the soil. PP - 1 week.

The insect attack the plant up to six leaf stage.

Six weeks after planting the crop is seldom attacked.
As the maggots feed on the main shoot, the growing point is destroyed and
the plant is almost dead.
The plant show typical dead heart symptoms.
Then more tillers are produced but they mature later than the main crop .
Atherigona soccata
• Use resistant variety CSH 15 R
• Use higher seed rate and remove the shoot fly
damaged seedlings at the time of thinning.
• Set up fish meal trap @ 5 / acre.
• Treat the seeds wit imidacloprid @ 1g/kg or
chlorpyriphos in furrows before sowing @
3g/metre row.
 Ear head bug Calocoris angustatus
Miridae: Hemiptera
Adult is small slender greenish yellow bug.
They appear on sorghum crop as soon as the ears emerge from
the leaf sheath.
The female bug lays cigar shaped eggs under the glumes or in
between anthers of florets, by inserting its ovipositor.
Egg period 5-7 days.
The nymphs feed on the developing grains in the milky stage.
Nymphs undergo 3 instars within a period of 3 wks.
The adults of the second generation are again ready for egg
laying in the ears having developing grains which might be
available on the same crop. As soon as the grains are ripe, the
bugs stop multiplying on that crop.
As a result of feeding by the bugs the grains remain chaffy or
shriveled. When a large number of nymphs feed, the whole
ear may become blackened at first and may eventually dry up
producing no grains.
 Sorghum shoot bug
Peregrinus maidis Delphacidae :Hemiptera
• The adult hopper is yellowish brown, with translucent wings.
• The full grown nymphs are light brown with prominent eyes
and wing pads.
• The female bugs make slits in the midrib of the leaves and lay
white elongated and cylindrical eggs in groups.
• Egg period is 7-10 days.
• Young nymphs feed at first within the leaf sheaths and leaf
whorls. As they grow they spread out to wider areas.
Nymphal period 16-18 days.
•
• The adults and nymphs feed gregariously within the leaf
whorls, the leaf sheaths and also on the leaves. As a result of
their sucking the cell sap, the leaves become yellow
Peregrinus maidis
• Red mines on the mid rib, stunted growth,
twisted top leaves, chocking of ears are some
of the symptoms. When the attack is severe,
the ears fail to emerge.

• The adult transmit the virus diseases corn

mosaic and freckled yellow
 Stem borers

• Chilo partellus Crambidae Lepidoptera

• Sesamia inferens Noctuidae Lepidoptera
• Straw coloured moth
• Larva yellowish brown with brown head
• Dead heart
• Red mining bin the mid rib
• Boreholes at the base of the stem
Chilo partellus
• Raise lab lab / cowpea or other short stature
pulses as a mixed crop
• Set up light traps
 Ear head feeders
Gall midge Contarinia sorghicola
Cecidomyiidae:Diptera
Small fragile fly with bright orange abdomen
Chaffy grains, White pupal case protruding out
from the grains.
Contarinia sorghicola
 Web worm
• Cryptoblabes gnidiella
• Pyralidae:Lepidoptera
• Brown moth
• Extensive webbing of grains and presence of
broken grains on the ear head.
Cryptoblabes gnidiella
 Semilooper
• Antoba silicula
• Noctuidae Lepidoptera
• Small moth with reddish buff coloured wings
having wavy lines
• webbing of grains and presence of broken
grains on the ear head
 Gram caterpillar
• Helicoverpa armigera
• Noctuidae :Lepidoptera
• Stout moth with yellowish orange wings and
brown markings
• Chalky appearance of ears due to partially
eaten grains.
 Stink bug
• Nezara viridula
• Pentatomidae :Hemiptera
• Adult light green colour, nymphs brownish red
with multicoloured spots
• Grains chaffy , spotted black and shrivelled.
 Stink bug
• Dolycoris indicus
• Pentatomidae :hemiptera
• Brown bug with white patch on the scutellum
• Grains chaffy , spotted black and shrivelled
 Chafer beetle
• Oxycetonia versicolor
• Cetonidae:Coleoptera
• Reddish brown with black and white spots
dorsally and black ventrally.
• Grains eaten away leaving gaps in the ear
head.
 MAIZE
• 1. Stem fly, Atherigona orientalis, Muscidae, Diptera
• Symptom of damage: Dead heart.
• Nature of damage: Maggot. Adult: Small grey coloured
fly.
• 2. Corn worm/ Earworm, Helicoverpa armigera,
Noctuidae, Lepidoptera
• Symptom of damage: Damage on grains and presence
of broken grains in the earhead.
• Nature of damage: Feeds on silk and developing grains.
 3. Cutworm
• Agrotis ipsilon, Noctuidae, Lepidoptera
• Symptom of damage: Cutting of tender stem and
defoliation.
• Nature of damage: Larva defoliates the crop.
• Larva: Greasy to touch; coil up at the slightest
touch. Blackish brown with red head, greyish
green laterally with dark stripes.
• Adult: Stout moth with brownish forewings with
wavy lines and spots; hindwings hyaline.
 4. Phadka grasshopper
• , Hieroglyphus nigrorepletus, Acrididae, Orthoptera
• Symptom of damage: Leaves defoliated from the margin;
plants often bared. Nature of damage: Nymph and adult
feed on the leaves and shoots.
• Egg: Gravid female trails its abdomen on the ground
searching for a soft moist spot. It drills a hole with its
ovipositor, inserts the abdomen with ovipositor, secretes a
fluid and lays the eggs one by one. The fluid hardens into a
capsule or egg-pod containing 30-40 eggs.
• Nymph and Adult: Have green and brown forms, the brown
being the most common form. Both have a conspicuous
irregular black dorsal pronotal stripe. Adults mostly
brachypterous.
5. Stem borer, Chilo partellus, Crambidae, Lepidoptera
6. Pink stem borer, Sesamia inferens, Noctuidae, Lepidoptera
7. Webworm, Cryptoblabes gnidiella, Pyraustidae, Lepidoptera
8. Cutworm, Mythimna separata, Noctuidae, Lepidoptera
9. Cutworm, Spodoptera exigua, Notuidae, Lepidoptera
10. Ash weevil, Myllocerus spp., Curculionidae, Coleoptera
11. Leaf hopper, Pyrilla perpusilla, Lophopidae, Hemiptera
12. Aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis, Aphididae, Hemiptera
13. Shoot bug, Peregrinus maidis, Delphacidae, Hemiptera
 PEARL MILLET
• 1. Shoot fly, Atherigona approximata,
• Muscidae, Diptera
• Symptom of damage: Dead hearts in young plants; corkscrew or
chaffy grains in the upper portion and well-developed grains in the
lower portion of earhead in mature crop.
• Nature of damage: Maggot damages the growing point and causes
‘dead heart’. It injures the leaf blades as well as the young shoots
and tillers. It also infests the peduncle of earhead at the time of
emergence from boot-leaf, preventing seed setting at advanced
stage of crop growth.
• Egg: Eggs are laid on the shoots near the soil surface. Maggot:
White cylindrical maggots. Pupa: Puparium brown colour, pupates
inside the stem. Adult: Greyish white fly.
 2. Earhead midge,
• Geromyia penniseti, Cecidomyiidae, Diptera Symptom
of damage: Grainless glumes with white pupal case
attached to the tip of the spikelet.
• Nature of damage: Maggot attacks developing grains
and feed on the ovaries. As a result of their feeding
grain formation is affected and in case of heavy
infestation entire head appear to be aborted.
• Egg: Eggs are laid singly or in pairs in spikelets and may
be found sticking to glumes.
• Maggot: White cylindrical maggots. Pupa: Puparium
brown colour pupates inside the spikelet. Adult: Light
pink, fragile fly.
 3. Leaf beetle, Lema downsei
• Galerucidae, Coleoptera
• Symptom of damage: Whitening and drying of
leaves leading to burnt up appearance.
• Nature of damage: Grub and adult scrape the
green matter of leaves in rainfed crop causing
whitening and ultimate drying.
• Egg: Eggs laid singly on the leaf tissue. Grub:
Whitish with a black head, swollen humped body
and has the habit of carrying its faecal matter
dorsally. Pupa: Pupation takes place inside the
soil. Adult: Straw coloured beetle.
 4. Root grub,
• Arthrodeis sp.,
• Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera
• Symptom of damage: Yellowing and gradual
wilting of entire plants.
• Nature of damage: Grubs feed on the roots of
rainfed crop.
• Adult: Black coloured shiny beetle
5. Red hairy caterpillar, Amsacta albistriga, Arctiidae,
Lepidoptera
6. Black hairy caterpillar, Estigmene lactinea, Arctiidae,
Lepidoptera
7. Wingless grasshopper, Neorthacris simulans, Acrididae,
Orthoptera
8. Ash weevil, Myllocerus spp., Curculionidae, Coleoptera
9. Pink stem borer, Sesamia inferens, Noctuidae, Lepidoptera
10. Semilooper, Antoba silicula, Noctuidae, Lepidoptera
11. Stink bug, Nezara viridula, Pentatomidae, Hemiptera
12. Stink bug, Dolycoris indicus, Pentatomidae, Hemiptera
 ITALIAN MILLET
• 1. Stem borer, Anadastus parvulus,
• Languriidae:Coloeptera
• Symptom of damage: Scrapped leaves, plants wither and in severe
cases. Nature of damage: Grubs bore into the stem and cause
withering of plants. Adult beetle scrapes green matter on the
leaves.
• Grub: Yellowish with chitinous spines on the surface of the anal
segment. Adult: Small smooth beetle with red head and thorax and
blue wings.
• 2. Stem fly, Atherigona destructor, A. atripalpis,
• Muscidae, Diptera
• Symptom of damage: Dead hearts in young plants.
• Adult: Small grey coloured fly.
• 3. Black bug, Scotinophara lurida, Podopidae,
Hemiptera
• 4. Earhead bug, Leptocorisa acuta, Alydidae,
Hemiptera
• 5. Ash weevil, Myllocerus spp., Curculionidae,
Coleoptera
• 6. Shoot bug, Peregrinus maidis, Delphacidae,
Hemiptera