Crop Protection :: Pests of Tapioca
Cassava mealy bug: Paracoccus marginatus
Symptoms of damage:
- Sucking of sap at cassava shoot tips, on the lower surface of leaves, and on stems. During feeding it injects a toxin into the cassava plant
- Causing deformation of terminal shoots, which become stunted
- Resulting in compression of terminal leaves into "bunchy tops"
- Length of internodes is reduced, and stems are distorted
Identification of pest:
- Cassava mealy bug is pinkish in colour
- Its body is surrounded by very short filaments, and covered with a fine coating of wax.
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Management:
- Spray malathion or fenitrothion @1ml/ha
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