Common name: Cow pea

S.N: Vigna unguiculata

Family: Fabacace

Symptoms of damage 

• Defoliation in early stages
• Larva’s head alone thrust inside the pods and the rest of the body hanging out.
• Pods with round holes

Identification of the pest

• Eggs – are spherical in shape and creamy white in colour, laid singly
• Larva - shows colour variation from greenish to brown. Green with dark brown grey lines laterallyon the body with lateral white lines and also has dark and pale bands.
• Pupa – brown in colour, occurs in soil, leaf, pod and crop debris
• Adult - light pale brownish yellow stout moth. Fore wing grey to pale brown with V shaped speck.Hind wings are pale smoky white with a broad blackish outer margin. 

Management

• Bird perches @ 50 / ha
• Set up light trap
• Pheromone traps @ 12 / ha
• ETL: 5-6 eggs or 2-3 small larvae / plant
• NPV @ 250 LE / ha + 0.1 % teepol
• NSKE 5% twice followed by Triazophos 0.05 %

Symptoms of damage

• Bore holes on the buds, flower or pods
• Infested pods and flowers are webbed together.

Identification of the pest

• Larva - Greenish white with brown head. It has two pairs of dark spots on the back of each segment
• Adult - Forewings- light brown colour with white markings; Hindwings – white colour with brown markings at the lateral edge

Management:

• ETL: 3/plant
• (Spray fluid 625 ml/ha)
  Note : When the activity of coccinellid predator (both grubs and adults) is seen, insecticide application should be avoided.

Symptoms of damage

• Dropping of flowers and young pods
• Older pods marked with a brown spot where a larvae has entered

• Larval – greenish initially, turns pink before pupation.
• It has 5 black spots on the prothorax

Adult

• Brownish grey moth 
• Prothorax – orange in colour
• Fore wing - has a white stripe along the anterior margin

Symptoms of damage

• Buds, flowers and young pods with boreholes
• Presence of slug like caterpillar.
• Honey dew secretion with black ant movements

Identification of the pest

• Larva – It is flat and slightly rounded; Pale green with a rough skin.
• Adult - moth is greyish blue with prominent black spots in the hind wings and a long tail; Ventral side of wings with numerous stripes and brown spots

Symptoms of damage

• Buds, flowers and young pods with boreholes and presence of slug like caterpillar.
• Larval entry hole on the pod is plugged with excreta.

Identification of the pest

• Larva - pale green or yellow with a red line and short black hairs on the body.
• Adult - butterfly is blue, medium sized with 5 black spots in the hind wings and two    black spots in the inner margin.

Management of pod borer complex

• ETL 10% affected parts
• Deep summer ploughing in 2-3 years to eliminate quiescent pupa.
• Early sowing, short duration varieties.
• Avoid closer plant spacing.
• Grow tall sorghum as comparison crop to serve as biological bird perches
• Collect and destroy larvae and adults to the extent possible
• Install pheromone traps at a distance of 50 m @ 5 traps/ha for each insect pest.
• Install Bird perches @ 50/ha.
• Setting of light traps (1 light trap/5 acre) to kill moth population.
• Control is achieved by releasing of Trichogramma chlionis at weekly intervals @1.5 lakh/ha/ week for four times.
• Conserve green lacewing, predatory stink bugs, spider, ants
• Application of NPV 250 LE /ha with teepol 0.1% and Jaggery 0.5% thrice at 10 – 15 days interval commencing from flowering stage. (Note: Insecticide / Ha NPV spray should be applied when the larvae are in early stage).
• Bt @ 600 g, neem oil/ pungum oil 80 EC @ 2ml/lit
• Spray NSKE 5% twice followed by triazophos 0.05%.
• Apply any one of insecticides at 25 kg/ha. quinalphos 4D, carbaryl 5D
• Quinalphos 25 EC @ 1000 ml/ha.

 Symptoms of damage 

• Leaves, inflorescence stalk and young pods  covered with dark coloured aphids
• Honey dew secretion with black ant movements

Identification of the pest

• Nymphs and Adult – dark coloured with cornicles in the abdomen

Management:

ETL: 20/2.5 cm shoot length

Spray any one of the following (Spray fluid 250 l /ha)

• Methyl demeton 25 EC 500 ml/ha
• Dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml/ha

 Symptoms of damage 

• Leave mottled and yellowish in colour
• Green colour insects found under surface of leaves

Identification of the pest

• Adult – elongate, active, wedge shape, green insects

Management:

 Spray the infested crop with methyl-o- demeton 750 ml in 700 - 1000 L water per hectare

 Symptoms of damage 

• Pods with black spots
• Shedding of green pods
• Poorly filled pods with shriveled grains inside

Identification of the pest

Riptortus pedestris

• Brownish black and hemispherical 
• Nymphs – resemble dark brown ants

Management:

Spray any one of the following insectcides (Spray fluid 500 l/ha)

• Dimethoate 30% EC 500ml/ha
• Methyl demeton 25%EC 500ml/ha
• Imidacloprid 17.8 SL 100-125 ml/ha
• Thiamethoxam 25% WG 100 g/ha

Symptoms of damage

• Cluster on the  plant  parts and suck the sap

• Nymphs and Adult - sub globular, oval and greenish shield bug.
• It has a characteristic buggy odour

• Leave mottled and yellowish in colour
• vector of yellow mosaic virus

Identification of the pest

• Adults -are small, yellow bodied insects with white wings which are densely   covered with a waxy powder.
• Nymphs and pupae -are black and round or oval. Pupae have marginal bristles

Management of sucking pests

• Shaking the infested plants over the vessels of oil and water or oily cloth gives most effective
• Spray methyl demeton 25 EC 500ml or dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml or phosphomidon 85 WSC 250 ml/ha

• The adult feeds voraciously on buds and flowers.

Identification of the pest

• Eggs - are light yellowish in colour and cylindrical in shape.
• Larvae - Young grubs are white in colour.
• Adult – Elytra are black in colour with a round orange spot and two transverse wavy   orange bands across the wings.

Management

• Manual collection or collection with insect net and killing of adults in kerosenized water appears to be the only possible solution.