Insect pest of wheat

1. INSECT PESTS OF Wheat R. Regmi Assistant Professor Department of entomology

2. INSECTS PESTS OF WHEAT Different insect pests attacking wheat are as follows: Pink borer, Sesamia inferens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae ) Wireworm, Agriotes sp ( Coleoptera : Elateridae ) Armyworm, Mythimna separata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae ) Aphids, Rhopalosiphum maidids , Schizaphis graminnum , and Microsiphium acanae ( Homoptera : Aphididae ) Grasshopper, Atractomorpha crenulata , Oxya adanata , chrotogonus sp ( Orthoptera : Acrididae ) Termite, Microtermes obsi , Odontotermes obsesus ( Isoptera : Termitidae )

3. Aphid Armyworm Grasshopper Pink borer Termite

4. Pink borer, Sesamia inferens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae ) The pink borer is polyphagous insect. It feeds on wheat, finger millet, rice, sugarcane, maize, sorghoum . The damage is caused by the caterpillars which are pinkish brown and have a smooth cylindrical body , measuring about 25mm . The moth are straw coloured and have stout body.

5. Life cycle: The pest breeds actively from March- April to November on rice and then migrates to the wheat crop. The moth are nocturnal and lay eggs on leaves or on the ground . The egg hatch in 6-8 days and young caterpillar bore into the epidermal layers of the leaf sheath . Later on, they bore into the stem as a result of which the growing shoot dries up producing dead hearts . When the attacked plants die, the larva move onto adjoining plants. They are full fed in 3-4 weeks and pupate inside the stem or in between the stem and leaves . The pupal stage last about a week and the life cycle is completed in 6-7 weeks. There are 4-5 generations of the pest in a year.

6. Damage: The attacked young plants shows dead hearts and are killed together. The older plants are not killed, but they produce a few grains only.

7. Management: The removal and destruction of stubble at the time of the first ploughing after harvesting the crop. Ploughing and flooding the field is also effective in killing the larvae Clipping of tips of seedling before transplanting can reduce the carryover of eggs to the field Use trichocard with 50,000-1,00,000 trichogramma per ha The field showing more than 5% dead hearts should be sprayed with 875 ml triazophos 40 EC or 2.5 liters of chlorpyriphos 20EC in 250 liter of water per ha.

8. Thank you