Symptom of damage:

• The maggot bores inside the stem and cuts the growing point
• Central shoots dried and produce “dead heart” symptom
• The infested plant produces side tillers

• Egg: White, cylindrical, distal somewhat flattened
• Adult: Whitish grey fly

Management:

ETL: 1 egg/plant in 10% of plants in the first two weeks of sowing or 10% dead hearts

• Take up early sowing of sorghum immediately after the receipt of South West or North East monsoon to minimise the shoot fly incidence.
• Use seeds pelleted with insecticides
• Seed treatment with imidacloprid 70 WS @ 10 g/kg of seeds. In case of direct seeding, use increased seed rate upto 12.5 kg/per hectare and remove the shoot fly damaged seedlings at
the time of thinning or raise nursery and transplant only healthy
seedlings.
• Plough soon after harvest, remove and destroy the stubbles.
• Set up the TNAU low cost fishmeal trap @ 12/ha till the crop is
30 days old.
• Spray one of the following for an area of 120 m2 nursery
  • Methyl demeton 25 EC 12 ml/ha
  • Dimethoate 30 EC 12 ml/ha
• In main field for direct sown crop spray any one of the following
  • Methyl demeton 25 EC 500 ml/ha
  • Dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml/ha
• Neem Seed Kernel extract 5%
• Soil application of phorate 10 G 18 kg/ha or carbofuran @ 33.3
kg/ha at the time of sowing