Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] - fifth cereal crop.

Grown mainly forgrain. green plant.crop residues.

Average yield - 1357 kg/ha.(Source: FAO, 2004)

ReasonHot dry climate, disease, insect pests.

150 insect sp. reported (ICRISAT, 1992; Sharma, 1993).

Yellow to buff in color.

Female of wingless form deposits 60-100 nymphs.

Emerging pest problem.

Sugarcane Aphids

(1) Sugarcane Aphid (Melanaphis sacchari Zehnt.)(Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Module: seedling pest

Crop damage

Feed on older leaves.

Also infests younger leaves and ear-heads at the flowering stage.

Both adults and nymphs suck sap - stunted plant growth.

Damage more severe - under moisture stress.

Sugarcane Aphids on sorghum earhead.

Moth has brownish fore wings with dark specks - hind wings are whitish-brown.

Lays egg in batches of 20 to 100 within the leaf sheath, and leaf folds.

Eggs are shiny white spherical - fine ridges.

Armyworm Moth

Source: CSIRO Entomology

(2) Armyworm (Mythimna separata Walk.)(Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Module: Foliage Feeders

Fully grown larvae - dirty pale brown to dark brown, with three darker brown dorsal lines.

Lateral yellow stripe on each side.

Outbreaks - after heavy rains, floods, and drought following heavy rains.

Armyworm Larvae

Crop damage

Larvae feed leaves, leaving midrib uneaten.

Immature ear-heads are also damaged.

Attacks are sporadic if heavy, an entire crop may be lost.

Armyworm damage

(3) Red hairy caterpillar (Amsacta moorei)(Lepidoptera: Arctiidae)

Module: Foliage feeder

Moth has white fore wings bearing brownish markings and streaks and white hind wings have black spots.

A moth lay up to 2300 eggs.

Adult Red hairy caterpillar

Eggs- Cream or bright yellow, in masses on the lower surfaces of leaves, on the soil, stones, bits of wood, and on other vegetation.

Larvae - white spots, dense tufts of long hair, and a red head.

Feed gregariously - lower surface of leaves.

Fully grown larvae move from plant to plant, field to field.

Egg mass

Larva Red hairy caterpillar

Small, gray colored fly looks like a house fly.

Deposits small white, cigar-shaped eggs, singly on the undersurface of leaf.

Shoot Fly Eggs

Shoot Fly Adult

(4) Sorghum Shoot Fly (Atherigona soccata Rond.)(Diptera: Muscidae)

Module: Stem Pests

young whitish yellow maggot feeds on decaying tissues.

Maggot enters through whorl - destroy growing point.

Shoot Fly Maggot

Crop damage

Central leaf wilts and later dries up - deadheart symptom.

Deadheart in sorghum

Deadheart easily pulled out, emits a bad smell.

Damage occurs - 1 week to about 1 month.

Attack little later - side tillers.

Late sowing cause 22-80% loss (Taneja and Nwanze 1994).

Side tillers due to shoot fly attack

Medium sized and straw colored - most serious.

Female lays nearly 500 eggs in masses on the undersurface of leaf, near the midrib.

Eggs are flattish, oval - overlap like fish scales.

Stem Borer moth and pupa

Egg masses

(5) Spotted Stem Borer (Chilo partellus Swin.)(Lepidoptera : Pyralidae)

Module: Stem Pests

First indication - small elongated holes in young whorl leaves.

Windows due to stem borer attack

Plant become very ragged in appearance.

Tunnels into the stem and eat the central portion.

Larvae bore into the stem and shot-holes appear.

Growing point is killed and deadheart symptoms appear in whorl leaves.

Also attacks earheads.

Tunneling of earheads breakage or complete or partial chaffyness.

Infests crop - second week till maturity (Singh,1997).

Cause 20-100% loss (Taneja and Nwanze, 1994).

Breakage of earheads due to stem borer

attack.

Moth is fawn colored, with dark brown streaks on fore wings and white on hind wings.

Female lays about 150 eggs in rows between the leaf sheath and the stem.

Eggs are creamy-white and hemispherical.

Pink Borer Moth

(6) Pink Borer (Sesamia inferens)(Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Module : Stem Pests

Larva is pale yellow have purple pink tinge - reddish-brown head.

Pink Borer Larvae

Pink Borer damage

Crop damage

Bores into the stem and kills the central shoot, - deadhearts.

One species - small white moth which lays eggs at night.

Other with dark gray forewings, hind wings fringed with hairs, larger than the fore wings.

Webworm Moths

(7) Earhead Webworms (Cryptoblabes sp.)(Lepidoptera: Pyraustidae)

Module: Earhead Pests

The young caterpillar dark gray with hairs.

The caterpillars of other - dark brown.

.

Webworm Larvae

Crop damage

Damage seeds in earheads, remain inside the webs formed from excreta and silken threads.

Webworm damage

Lower the quality of grains.

Beetles are bright metallic blue, green, black, and yellow or brown .

When disturbed emit a fluid containing cantharidine.

Female lays large number of eggs 2,000-10,000 on the ground or in the soil.

Long-legged larvae attack other insect eggs.Adult Blister Beetle

(8) Blister Beetles (Zonabris phalarata)(Coleoptera: Meloidae)

Module: Earhead Pests

Crop Damage

General feeders, feed on flowers and tender panicles, preventing grain formation.

Blister Beetle feeding on sorghum flowers

Female is yellowish green.

Lays 150-200, long cigar-shaped eggs under the glumes of the sorghum florets.

Adult Earhead Bug

(9) Earhead Bug (Calocoris angustatus)(Hemiptera: Miridae)

Module: Earhead Pests

Both nymphs and adults infest earheads.

Grain attacked early stage is shriveled, reducing crop yield.

Older grain shows feeding punctures.

Sorghum grain damage due to Earhead Bug

(10) Sorghum midge (Contarinia sorghicola)(Diptera: Cecidomyidae)

Module:Earhead pest

Adult

Tiny fly - yellow head, brown antennae and legs, an orange-red thorax and abdomen, and grayish hyaline wings

Female lays about 75 eggs - flowering spikelets.

Orange maggot feeding newly fertilized ovary preventing seed development.

Fly hover around the ear head - early or late hours of day.

Infestation identified from the red ooze.

Pupal skin remains at the tip of the spikelet.

High infestations - flowering times are extended.

Under severe infestation, earhead blasted with chaffy head appearance.

Moth is large, and brown or gray with specks form a V-shaped mark on fore wings.

Hind wings - dull-colored, with black border.

Female moth lays spherical yellowish eggs in singles .

Young larvae are whitish-green.

Bollworm moth

(11) Corn ear worm (Helicoverpa sp.)(Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Module: Earhead Pests

Bollworm larva

Crop damage

Larvae infest both whorls and earheads.

Damage to leaves not affect yield.

Infestation of earheads more serious feed on developing seeds.

Small larvae first feed on florets, then hollow out developing seeds.

80% damage by grownup larvae.

(12) White grub (Holotrichia consanguinea)(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Module: seed and root pest

They are small reddish brown beetles, feed leaves.

Female adults lays egg in soil in cluster.

White Grubs

Larvae C”- shaped white translucent body and brown head.

Fully grown larvae larger than a thumb.

Feed on soil organic matter then cut and eat plant roots.

Plants will wilt and die.

One white grub destroy 0.3 to 0.5 m of a row of a plant.

Module: Storage Pests

Primary pest

(1) Rice Weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

(2) Lesser Grain Borer, Rhyzopretha dominica (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae)

(3) Angoumois Grain Moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Lepidoptera: Gelechidae)

Secondary pest

(4) Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionids)

(5) Rice Moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Lepidoptera: pyralidae)

IPM

Encompassing all available control measure.

Insect pest complex of sorghum – seedling stage to maturity (Teetes and Pendleton, 2000).

Pyrilla or Sugarcane leaf hopper -Pyrilla perpusilla (Hemiptera: Lophopidae)- serious pest of sorghum (Mathur, 1993).

20% of IPM in field (Rabindra, 2004).

Cultural ControlCultural practices

Early sowing - against shoot fly, ear head bug, army worm, corn ear worm, stem borer, aphid and midge infestation.

High seed rate - shoot fly.

Clean cultivation, (lower plant population) army worm damage.

Removal and uprooting of infested plants shoot fly ,stem borer, pink borer, army worm, pyrilla and aphids.

Mixed crop with cowpea (pulse crop) –stem borer.

Sorghum benefits most rotated with broadleaf or taprooted crop cotton, Gossypium hirsutum or soybean, Glycine max.

Damage of midge higher - low plant densities.

Ploughing during summer, collection and destruction of egg masses - hairy caterpillar population.

Destroying food sources and overwintering habitats sorghum midge, sorghum webworm.

Barnyard grass.

During off-season, shoot fly and midge survives on volunteer, fodder sorghums, weeds - pulling out minimize problem.

Barnyard grass - shoot fly, stem borer head bug.Johnson grass - midge, aphid.

Uprooting, burning stubbles and chopping of stems - pink borer and spotted stem borer.

Mechanical practicesMechanical practices

Migrating larvae ofMigrating larvae of hairy caterpillarhairy caterpillar checked by checked by digging trenchesdigging trenches. .

Use of Use of light trapslight traps - - hairy caterpillar moth and adult hairy caterpillar moth and adult stem borerstem borer..

Hanging Hanging fish meal trapfish meal trap–– Shoot fly.Shoot fly.

Deep ploughingDeep ploughing kills overwintering larvae, pupae kills overwintering larvae, pupae sorghum midge, corn ear wormsorghum midge, corn ear worm and and web wormweb worm. .

Hand picking, collection and destruction ofHand picking, collection and destruction of hairyhairy caterpillar caterpillar andand blister beetle. blister beetle.

Nutrient management

Grow - healthy, vigorously growing sorghum plants.

Application of iron for healthy sorghum.

Fertilizer (High dose) - plants attractive to insect pests.

Planting when conditions are favorable – aphid.

Foliar damage (whorl stage) - army worm greater in acidic soil.

Phosphatic fertilizer - shoot fly.

High level of water stress - shoot fly.

Nitrogen fertilizer - Shoot fly and Stem borer.

Host plant resistance

Open-type panicles less affected - ear head bug.

Uniform sowing - midge.

Varieties like SPH 837, ICSV 745, resistance to sorghum midge (Sharma and Hariprasad, 2002).

Open panicles exposed to predaceous insects and birds – Corn ear worm.

Host plant resistant – backbone of insect pest management ( Sharma et al. 1993, 2003).

Varieties mature as early and uniformly - midge, corn earworm, armyworm, sorghum webworm, and borer.

Seed germination of eighty percent should be used.

Multiple resistance sources (shoot fly, stem borer, midge and head bug) – PFGS 97, 98, 100 (Kishore, 2001).

Aphid, transmit maize dwarf mosaic virus - virus-resistant varieties.

Hybrids – more susceptible to insect (Sharma et al. 2004 and Dhillon, 2004).

Resistance variety and hybrids - ICRISAT

S.No.

Insect pests Resistance variety/hybrids

1 Shoot fly ICSV 700, 701, 705, 25001 / ICSB 415, 418, 432

2 Midge ICSV 197, 239, 305, 25163/ ICSB 488, 493, 508, 541

3 Stem borer ICSV 700, 711, 714, 25162 / ICSB 464, 467, 472

4 Head bug ICSV 25245, 25247, 25250/ ICSB 547, 548, 550, 552

(Source : ISMN 2005)

Iron-tolerant varieties used.

Rapid seed germination - sugarcane aphid and white grub.

Resistance against midge positively corelated with size of floral parts.

Semicompact, compact panicles-increased infestation – Ear head bug.

Sorghum varities – IS 1044, 2123, 1054, 18573 and ICSV 714 – antibiosis to spotted stem borer (Kumar et al. 2006).

Adults are semi- or hemispherical.

Orange, red, or black, and spotted or marked with contrasting colors.

Hibernate as adults.

Convergent Ladybird Beetles

Ladybird Beetles ( Coleoptera : Coccinellidae) Convergent Lady Beetle, Hippodamia convergens (Guerin-Meneville); Scymnus Lady Beetle, Scymnus loewii (Mulsant)

Biological controlModule: Predators

Ladybird Beetle Eggs

Females lay 200-1000 yellow eggs in clusters .

Scymnus lady beetles lay eggs singly

The larvae are elongate, tapering Posterior.

Dark with bright markings,bodies covered with spines.

Larvae of scymnus lady beetles- long streamers of white wax.

Ladybird Beetle Larva

Both adults and larvae are beneficial.

Predacious on aphids, eggs and small larvae of insects.

Most beneficial reproduce rapidly, voracious feeders.

Larvae devour 11-25 and adults 16-56 aphids in a day.

Ladybird Beetle feeding on aphids

Large big - eyed Bug, (Hemiptera:Lygaeidae)Geocoris bullatus -prey on small insects.

.

Large big eyed bug

Predaceous Bugs : Large Big-eyed Bug, Geocoris bullatus (Say); Minute Pirate Bug, Orius tristicolor (White); Common Damsel Bug, Nabis americoferus (Carayon);

Minute Pirate Bug, (Hemiptera:Anthocoridae) Orius tristicolor - feed on insect eggs, newly-hatched larvae nymphs, small insects.

Damsel bug (Hemiptera: Nabidae) (Nabis americoferus) - hide among foliage or in flowers, eat aphids, caterpillars, and other insects.

Very large group - flower flies, hover flies, and sweat flies.

Adults pollinate plants.

Adult Syrphid Fly

Syrphid Fly, Syrphus confractor (Diptera: Syrphidae)

Elongate, legless, and slug-like,common among aphid colonies.

Moving slowly - grab the aphids singly with pointed jaws, raising and slowly sucking out body contents, discarding empty skin.

Larvae destroy aphids one per minute.

Syrphid fly larva

Greenish or yellowish-green color, delicate, lace-like wings, shining golden eyes.

Adult Green Lacewing

Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla spp.) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae)

Larvae have elongate spindle-shaped mandibles, puncturing and extracting the body fluids.

Called aphis lions, - aphids, small larvae, soft-bodied insects or eggs.

Lacewing Larva

The most valuable insect parasites

Hymenoptera• Chalcid Wasps (Chalcididae)• Braconid Wasps (Braconidae)• Ichneumonid Wasps (Ichneumonidae)Diptera• Tachinid Flies (Tachinidae)

Insect Parasites

Module: Parasites

Chalcid Wasps Live inside minute insects, eggs of insects, aphids and

caterpillars.

Braconid Wasps Most common and important - Lysiphlebus testaceipes

(Cresson).

Ichneumonid Wasps

wasp-like have long ovipositors.

Internal parasite - immature stages of insect.

Ichneumonid Wasp

Ichneumonid wasp parasitizing larvae

Tachinid Flies (Diptera : Tachinidae)Resemble an overgrown house fly.

Adult feed - foliage or flowers.

Lay eggs glued to host or on foliage.

Hatched larvae also deposited on or in victim.

Tachinid Fly

Reduviid bug and lygaeid bug - ear head bug.

Apanteles ruficrus larval parasite - army worm.

Trichogramma sp. –egg parasitiod – spotted stem borer and ball worm.

Apanteles sp. and Microbracon sp. – Larval parasitoid – Spotted stem borer.

Artificial proteinaceous honeydew -attract chrysopid, syrphid adult and arrest coccinellids (Whitman, 1988).

reduviid bug

Trichogramma parasitizing egg (H. armigera)

Microbial controlMicrobial control

Baculovirus @ 11.6 x 10Baculovirus @ 11.6 x 101010 OBs/ 0.4 ha - single OBs/ 0.4 ha - single application - excellent control.application - excellent control.

Bacillus thuringiensisBacillus thuringiensis var. var. morrisonimorrisoni (toxin) – (toxin) –shoot shoot flyfly (Sharma (Sharma et alet al. 2004a ).. 2004a ).

B. thuringiensisB. thuringiensis (toxin) – Cry 1 Ac and Cry 2 A – (toxin) – Cry 1 Ac and Cry 2 A – spotted stem borerspotted stem borer (Sharma (Sharma et alet al. 2004a).. 2004a).

B. thuringiensisB. thuringiensis (toxin) – Cry 1 Ac– (toxin) – Cry 1 Ac– Head caterpillarHead caterpillar - - (Sharma (Sharma et alet al. 2004a).. 2004a).

BotanicalsKaranja powder or extract- stem borer, hairy caterpillar (Arora and Dhaliwal, 1994).

Custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) plant extract- feeding deterent –hairy caterpillar.

Neem seed kernel- safe to Tetrastichus sp. ( parasitoid of midge) and Orius sp. (predator of midge).

Neem oil – safe to syrphids and coccinellids.

Neemark, Repelin and nicotine sulphate – safe to coccinellids – highly-toxic - Tetrastichus coccinellae (hyperparasite).

Elcar (Sandoz Inc.) - Helicoverpa sp.

Chemical Control

powerful tools - insect pests of sorghum.

Sorghum treated seed (systemic insecticide)- seed-feeding and seedling insect pests

Herbicides - johnson grass and barnyard grass.

Carbaryl and Fenthion - blister beetle adults, ear head bug ,ear head web worm and hairy caterpillar.

Need-based application- either Carbofuran 3G or Carbaryl 4G at 8 and 12 kg/ha respectively - pink borer and spotted stem borer.

Poison bait - hairy caterpillar, (10 kg rice bran,1 kg jaggery and 1 liter Quinolphos).

Late plantings, Carbofuran 3 G or Phorate 10G at 20 kg/ha seed furrows – shoot fly.

Seed treatment - Systemic insecticide (Crusier – thiamethoxam, 50% a.i., Gaucho – imidacloprid, 40.7% a.i.) – Insect pest complex - 80 – 90% yield (Brown et al. 2001).

Insecticide cause phytotoxicity – Dichlorvos, methyl parathion, monocrotophos and phosphamidon.

Biotechnological approach

Sorghum plant having Cry 1 Ac – developed at ICRISAT ( Giriraj shankar et al. 2005)

Secondary plant metabolites (flavonoids) – implicated in sorghum (Heller and Forkman, 1993).

IPM for storage pestDestroy 10-15 % of grain, contaminate the rest.

Hygiene store house – brushing (cracks, corners).Minimum damage - grain moisture below 12%.Grain moisture less than 9% - insect unable to breed.

Chemical practicesTreat walls of empty godown – Malathion 50 EC.

Fumigation (Aluminium phosphide) @ 3 tablets (3g) /tonne grain Other chemicals – Ethylene di bromide, Ethylene di chloride.

Karanja oil (Pongamia pinnata) surface protectant- storage pest- Lesser grain borer, Grain moth @ 1% complete protection.

Monoterpenoids - stored product insects (Tripathi, 2004).

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