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Crop Protection :: Pests of Banana

BORERS
Rhizome weevilCosmopolites sordidus 

Symptoms of damage
  • Grubs bore into the rhizome and cause death of the plant
  • Presence of dark coloured tunnels in the rhizomes.
  • Death of unopened pipe, withering of outer leaves.






Grub bore hole
Corm damage     
Stem Damage

Identification of pest
  • Eggs - laid singly, white in colour
  • present on the upper part of rhizome
  • Grub - Apodous, yellowish white with red head
  • Pupa - white in colour, occur in inside the corm and tunneling
  • Adult - Dark weevil, newly emerged weevil is red brown
Pupa Adult

Management
  • Select healthy sucker and plant
  • Do not take regular crop in the same field to avoid initial infestation
  • Ensure clean cultivation
  • Removal of pseudo stems below ground level
  • Trimming the rhizome
  • Avoid growing Robusta, Karpooruvally, Malbhog, Champa and Adukkar
  • Grow less susceptible varieties like Poovan, Kadali, Kunnan, Poomkalli
  • Use cosmolure trap at 5/ha

Banana corm split trap

Symptoms of damage
  • Trap adult weevils with pseudostem chopped into small pieces
  • kept near infested clump at 65/ha.
  • Soil incorporation at the time of planting: carbofuran 3 G 10g, phorate 10 G 5 g/plant, lindane 1.3 D 20 g/plant.
  • Before planting, the suckers should be dipped in 0.1 per cent quinalphos emulsion.
  • Apply castor cake 250g or carbaryl 50g dust or phorate 10g per pit before planting also prevents infestation
  • Severe attack dimethoate, methyl demeton, or phosphamidon may be sprayed around the collar region.

Crop Protection Crop Protection Banana
Crop Protection Banana

Pseudostem borerOdoiporus longicollis 

Symptoms of damage
  • Grub bore into pseudostem making tunnels
  • Cutting holes on outer surface
  • Exudation of plant sap – initial symptom
  • Blackened mass comes out from the bore hole 
  • Tunneled part decomposes and pseudostem becomes weak
  • Wilting of the plant.
Bore holes on pseudostem

Identification of pest
  • Eggs – are laid at random on cut ends of pseudostem, yellowish-white, cylindrical in shape
  • Grub - Apodous, creamy white with dark brown head.
  • Pupa – pale yellow colour, fibrous cocoon formed inside the tunneling on the periphery
  • Adult - Robust, reddish brown and black weevil.
Adult

Management
  • Remove dried leaves periodically and keep the field clean
  • Prune the side suckers every month
  • Use healthy and pest free suckers to check the pest incidence
  • Do not dump infested materials into manure pit
  • Uproot infested trees, chop into pieces and burn
  • Use longitudinally split pseudostem trap at 65/ha

Note

  • 2ml at 45 cm from ground level; another  2m at 150 cm from ground level

SAP FEEDERS

Banana aphidPentalonia nigronervosa f. typica 

Symptoms of damage
  • Leaves are bunched into a rosette appearance
  • Leaf margins are wavy and upward rolling              
  • Stunted growth of the plant
  • Do not produce bunches
  • Vector of bunchy top disease.
  • Seen in colonies on leaf axils and pseudostem
Banana bunchy top

Identification of pest
  • Nymphs - are dark in colour
  • Adult – Brownish and has black veined wings
Aphids on under surface of leaves Winged adult

 

Management
  • Ensure clean cultivation
  • Use healthy and pest free suckers to check the pest incidence   
  • Destroy diseased plants with rhizome
  • Direct the spray towards the crown and pseudostem base upto ground level
  • Encourage activity of predators:
  • ScymnusChilomenes sexmaculatusChrysoperla carnea and other coccinellids;
  • Use entomopathogens, Beauveria bassiana
Pentalonia nigronervosa Pentalonia nigronervosa

Tingid or Lace wing bug, Stephanitis typicus 

Symptoms of damage
  • Grubs bore into the rhizome and cause death of the plant
  • Presence of dark coloured tunnels in the rhizomes.
  • Death of unopened pipe, withering of outer leaves.
Yellowish spots on leaves Adult Leaf Spot

Identification of pest
  • Nymphs – are yellow colour, occur in under surface
  • Adult – yellow colour with minute fringed wings, seen in under surface of leaves

Management
  • Collect and destroy the damaged leaves, flowers and fruits along with life stages
  • Spraying with dimethoate 30 EC - 850 ml/ha or phosphamidon 85 WSC - 300 ml/ha
  • Use yellow sticky trap at 15/ha
  • Spray carbendazim 3g/ litre of water Application of press mud at 5 kg per tree reduces the wilt incidence

Hard scale, Aspidiotus destructor 

Symptoms of damage
  • Grubs bore into the rhizome and cause death of the plant
  • Presence of dark coloured tunnels in the rhizomes.
  • Death of unopened pipe, withering of outer leaves.

Banana scale

Identification of pest
  • Nymph - Oval translucent, Yellowish brown with waxy coating.
  • Adult - Female circular, semi transparent and pale brown.
Adult and crawlers

Management
  • Collect and destroy the affected plant parts
  • Field release of coccinelid predators like Chilocorus nigritus, Symnus coccivora

Fruit rust thrips, Chaetanaphothrips signipennis

Symptoms of damage
  • Rusty reddish discolouration on the fingers
  • Yellowing of leaves and rusty growth over fruit.

Identification of pest
  • Adult - Yellowish white with shaded wings.

Management
  • Destroy all volunteer plants and old neglected plantations
  • Use healthy and pest free suckers for planting
  • Hot water treatment prior to planting.
  • Bunch covers (which cover the full length of the bunch) protection applied very early.
  • Regular checking of fruit under the bunch covers is essential to ensure that damage
  • Bunches, pseudostem and the suckers should be sprayed chlorpyrifos
  • Soil application fipronil and bifenthrin
  • Field release of coccinelid predators like lacewings, ladybird beetles

LEAF FEEDERS
Castor hairy caterpillarPericallia ricini 

Symptoms of damage
  • Caterpillar scraping the chlorophyll content and windowing in unfurled leaves.

Identification of pest
  • Larva - Black with brown head having long brown hairs
  • Adult - Grey coloured with dark spots on the pinkish hind wings.
Pericallia ricini

Management
  • Collect and destroy egg masses and caterpillars
  • Use burning torch to kill the congregating larvae
  • Use light trap to attract and kill the adults
  • Spray chlorpyriphos 20 EC or quinalphos 25 EC 2ml/lit

Cut worm, Spodoptera litura 

Symptoms of damage
  • Young larvae feed by scrapping the leaves from ventral surface
  • Later on feed voraciously at night on the foliage.
Scrabbing of larvae

Identification of pest
  • Larva - Pale greenish brown with dark marking.
  • Yellow and purplish spots in the sub marginal areas. 
  • Fore wing - Stout moth with wavy white markings on the brown.
  • Hind wings - white having a brown patch along the margin.

Management
  • Hank pick and destroy the caterpillar
  • Collect and destroy the damaged plant parts
  • Summer ploughing to expose to the pupae
  • Use light trap 1/ha
  • Spray application of azinphosethyl, chlorphyriphos
  • Severe infestation – spot application of Bt
  • Foliar spray with avanthe 1 ml in 100 ml of water
  • Field release of egg parasitoid
    • Telenomus spodopterae
    • Telenomus remus
  • Field release of entomopathogenic fungus, Nomuraea rileyi
Larva Adult



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