Agri manufacturing Agricultural Study Materials Uncategorized

Pest Affecting fruits – Banana, Apple, Grapes, Fig, Tamarind, Papaya, star goosberry, custard apple, pear, peach and plum

BANANA

Rhizome weevil Cosmopolites sordidus (Curculionidae: Coleoptera)

  • It is a major pest of banana. Adult is a stout, reddish brown weevil. 
  • Grub is apodous and yellowish with reddish head. Grub bores into rhizome and tunnels within it. Pupates within a chamber made near the outer surface of rhizome.  Adult also tunnels within stem feeding on its internal tissues and lives for one year. Because of attack by adults and grubs, central shoot is killed. 
  • Plants show pre-mature withering, leaves become scarce, fruits become undersized and suckers are killed outright

Pseudostem borer Odoiporus longicollis (Curculionidae: Coleoptera)

  • It is also a serious pest of banana. Adult is a robust reddish-brown and black weevil. Larva is apodous. Grubs pupate in tunnel towards the periphery in a cocoon made from pieces of fibrous materials of sheath
  • Grubs bore into pseudostem making tunnels within and cutting holes on its outer surface. Exudation of plant sap is the initial symptom and blackened mass comes out from the holes bored by larvae. Tunneled part decomposes and pseudostem becomes weak and easily breaks in wind. Adult feeds on tissues of leaf sheath from its inner surface and also on decaying tissues.

Banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa (Aphididae: Hemiptera)

  • It causes no direct damage, but is notorious as a vector of bunchy top viral disease. High humidity and moderate temperature are conducive for population increase. 
  • Adult is brownish in colour and has black-veined wings.    
  • It lives in colonies within leaf-axils, or tender leaves and at base of the culm at the ground level. 
  • Leaves are bunched into a rosette at the top and margins are wavy and rolled upward. Plants remain stunted and do not produce bunch of commercial value

Lace wing bugs Stephanitis typicus (Tingidae: Hemiptera)

Thrips Heliothrips kadaliphila, Thrips florum (Thripidae: Thysanoptera)

Spittle bugs Phymatostetha deschampsi (Cercopidae: Hemiptera). 

Scale Aspidiotus destructor (Diaspididae: Hemiptera) 

Leaf feeder Pericallia ricini (Arctiidae: Lepidoptera). It is a polyphagous pest. 

Leaf eating caterpillar Spodoptera litura (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera). 

Leaf beetle Nodostoma subcostatum (Eumolpidae: Coleoptera).

Rhizome weevil 

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GRAPE VINE

Grapevine stem girdler Sthenias grisator (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera)

  • It is a serious pest in grape growing areas of India. Besides grapes, stem girdler feeds on rose-bushes, mulberry, various garden shrubs, creepers, crotons, mango, almond, jack-fruit, Bougainvillea, yellow oleander and Indian ash-tree. 
  • Adults are grey coloured beetle with a white spot at the center of each elytron. 
  • On hatching, tiny grubs immediately tunnel into the wood. Full-grown grub pupates within the tunnel. Life cycle is completed in more than a year.
  • Adults girdle the vines by ringing which results in drying up of regions beyond the cut regions

Coppery brown flea beetle Scelodonta strigicollis (Eumolpidae: Coleoptera)

  • Adult is a shining flea beetle with a metallic bronze colour and 6 black patches on elytra. Grubs burrow into soil and feed on cortical root tissues. It pupates in an earthen cell.  Adults are destructive when vines put forth fresh flush after pruning. They bore into buds, nibble leaves, making number of shot holes on leaves, scratch tendrils and eat epidermis of branches. 

Grapevine thrips Rhipiphorothrips cruentatus (Thripidae: Thysanoptera)

  • Adult is minute, blackish brown, with yellowish wings. Nymph is yellowish brown, visible to eye as minute fast-moving streak on the underside of leaves. Attacked leaves curl up and drop off. vines either do not bear fruit or fruit drops off prematurely. Fruits when infested develop corky layers on their surface and turn brown. 

Grapevine mealy bug Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Pseudococcidae: Hemiptera)

  • Pinkish nymphs and adults suck sap from leaves, barks, tender shoots and fruits. Infestation results in crinkling and yellowing of leaves and rotting of berries.

Grapevine sphingid or Horned caterpillar Hippotion celerio (Sphingidae: Lepidoptera). 

  • Adult is a robust, red and brown coloured moth. Larvae are green and stout with an anal horn, feed on leaves and cause defoliation. 

Leaf roller Sylepta lunalis (Pyraustidae: Lepidoptera). 

Plume moth Oxyptilus regulus (Pterophoridae: Lepidoptera). 

Fruit sucking moths (Othreis spp., Achaea janata) (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera). 

Chaffer beetle Adoretus lasiopygus (Rutellidae: Coleoptera). 

Fruit bat or flying fox Pteropus gigantea (Order: Chiroptera)               

FIG

Leaf feederGlyphodes sp.Pyraustidae: Lepidoptera
Wild silkwormOcinara variansBombycidae: Lepidoptera
Leaf caterpillarHypsa ficusHypsidae: Lepidoptera
Leaf feedersPhycodes radiataGlyphipterygidae: Lepidoptera
BorerOlenecamptus bilobusCerambycidae: Coleoptera
ThripsGigantothrips elegansThripidae: Thysanoptera

PAPAYA

WhiteflyBemisia tabaciAleyrodidae: Hemiptera
WeevilMyllocerus spp.Curculionidae: Coleoptera
Fruit flyBactrocera dorsalisTephritidae: Diptera

TAMARIND

ScaleAspidiotus tamarindiDiaspididae: Hemiptera
Soft scaleSaissetia oleaeCoccidae: Hemiptera
Fruit borerArgyroploce illepidaEucosmidae: Lepidoptera
Inflorescence caterpillarLaspeyresia palamedesEucosmidae: Lepidoptera
Leaf feederVirachola isocratesNoctuidae: Lepidoptera
Leaf feederEublemma anguliferaNoctuidae: Lepidoptera
Leaf feederThalassodes quadrariaGeometridae: Lepidoptera

STAR GOOSEBERRY

Leaf rollerCaloptilia acidulaGracilariidae: Lepidoptera
WhiteflyTrialeurodes raraAleyrodidae: Hemiptera
AphidSetaphis bougainislliaeAphididae: Hemiptera
Striped mealy bugFerrisia virgataPseudococcidae: Hemiptera
BugScutellera nobilisScutelleridae: Hemiptera

CUSTARD APPLE

Fruit borerHeterographisLepidoptera
Fruit flyBactrocera zonataTephritidae: Diptera
Striped mealy bugFerrisia virgataPseudococcidae: Hemiptera
Mealy bugMaconellicoccus hirsutusPseudococcidae: Hemiptera

PEAR

Stem borerSahydrassus malabaricusHepialidae: Lepidoptera
Hairy caterpillarEuproctis fraternaLymantriidae: Lepidoptera
WeevilMyllocerus spp.Curculionidae: Coleoptera
Leaf beetleNodostoma pubicolleEumolpidae: Coleoptera
AphidDilachnus krishniiAphididae: Hemiptera
Psyllid bugCacopsylla maliPsyllidae: Hemiptera

PEACH AND PLUM

San Jose ScaleQuadraspidiotus perniciosusDiaspididae: Hemiptera
Leaf curl aphidBrachycaudus helichrysiAphididae: Hemiptera

APPLE

Apple wooly aphis Eriosoma lanigerum (Pemphegidae: Hemiptera)

  • It attacks apple trees in all the hilly tracts of India and enjoys worldwide distribution. Purple coloured aphids are covered with cottony mats. 
  • Nymphs and adults suck juice from bark of the trunk and the roots; it also infests fruit stalks and calyx end. 
  • Infested twigs shrivel and die. Infested roots have many short fibrous roots.Fruits from the infested trees are of poor quality and malformed. 

San Jose scale Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Diaspididae: Hemiptera)

  • It is an introduced pest in India and attacks fruit trees in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Alternate hosts are cherry, plum, pear, peach and most other temperate fruit trees. 
  • Infestation causes purple discolouration on the fruits and make them unfit for marketing. Infestation of shoots results in loss of vigour and death of young trees or branches. 
  • Female scale is yellowish orange, round, slightly convex and raised a little at the centre with a black pustule. Males are small and more linear in shape.

Cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi (Margarodidae: Hemiptera): 

  • Nymphs and adults suck sap from leaves and twigs and cause yellowing of leaves. Females are with a cottony ovisac. Nymphs are pinkish crawlers with long antenna and hairs.

Stem borer, Apriona cinerea (Lamiidae: Coleoptera) 

  • Grubs are creamy yellow coloured with dark brown flat head. Adults are ashy grey beetles with numerous black tubercles at base of elytra. Symptoms of damage are: branches are with small circular hole and mass of excreta and chewed up wood particles protruding out; bark gnawed and leaves defoliated; shoots with circuitous galleries; trunks hollowed out; and stunted trees

Psyllid, Psylla mali (Psyllidae: Hemiptera): Nymphs and adults suck the sap and the infested leaves become brown and often drop off. Fruits also drop pre-maturely.

Tent caterpillar, Malacosoma indica (Lasiocampidae: Lepidoptera): Caterpillars feed on foliage and in severe cases only midribs and hard veins are left.

Indian gypsy moth, Lymantria dofuscata (Lymantriidae: Lepidoptera): Caterpillars feed at night gregariously and defoliate plants.

Fruit fly, Bactrocera sp. (Tephritidae: Diptera): Maggots breed in the pulp of fruits and reduce both yield and quality.

Fruit piercing moth, Calpe aphideroides (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera): Moths pierce the fruits on plants and suck the juice, as a result of which fruits rot and fall to the ground.

Leaf miner, Gracillaria zachrysa (Gracillaridae: Lepidoptera): Caterpillars cause mining in leaves, roll young leaves longituditionally into tubular or cone shaped pouch and feed within.

Leaf roller, Cacoecia sarcostega (Torticidae: Lepidoptera): Larvae feed on the leaves, buds, and flowers after rolling or webbing them together. Caterpillars feed within on soft tissues.

Blossom thrips, Tachniothrips rhopalantennalis (Thripidae: Thysanoptera): Nymphs and adults feed by rasping on petals and vital flower parts.

European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Tetranychidae: Acarina): Reddish brown nymphs (with a pale front margin) and brownish red adults (with a white spot at the bases of dorsal setae) suck the sap from the leaves. Infested leaves show characteristic white streaks on the upper surface, later turn dirty grey, yellowish brown and ultimately bronzy. Affected leaves become rolled.

Wooly aphis

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San Jose scale

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Cottony cushion scale

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