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Pests
Banana pseudostem weevil (Odoiporus longicollis)
(ad hoc recommendation)
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Odoiporus longicollis
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Exudation of gum and tunnelling
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Adult stem weevil and grubs feeding on leaf sheath
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The weevil resembling the rhizome weevil of banana is becoming a serious pest in
the recent years. Adults are either reddish brown or black. The pest is active during
summer and monsoon months. Adult female weevil punctures and inserts eggs into the
pseudostem. The grubs emerging out bore into the stem and feed within the stem.
An initial symptom is in the form of exudation of plant sap and blackened mass that
comes out from the hole bore by the grub. Finally the whole plant dies.
Control
- Field sanitation is the most important factor in the prophylactic and curative control
of this pest.
- Remove affected plants along with the rhizome in full and destroy
them by burning the life stages of the insect using kerosene or by burying the material
in deep pits in soil.
- Destroy the parts of rhizome and pseudostem of harvested
plants in the field and destroy them as described above.
- Remove the dry outer
sheaths of the pseudostem of all infested and un-infested plants in the endemic
areas and spray any of the recommended insecticides. Drenching all the leaf axils,
rhizome and surrounding soil and all round the entire pseudostem inserting the nozzle
through the bore holes made by the larvae if any and also within the outer sheathes
by slightly raising the same at different spots is also effective. Apply quinalphos
0.05% or chlorpyrifos 0.03% or carbaryl 0.2%. Repeat the treatment after 3 weeks
if the infestation persists.
Banana rhizome weevil
(Cosmopolites sordidus)
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Cosmopolites sordidus
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Damage showing distinct larval galleries
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The attack by this pest is reported to be serious in all localities where banana
is cultivated. Female adults puncture healthy rhizomes and insert eggs through it.
Grubs tunnel within and feed resulting in the stunting of rhizome. If the infestation
occurs on a mature rhizome, damage symptoms appear through the reduction in leaf
number, bunch size and the fruit number appear.
Control
- Adopt strict field sanitation.
- Select only healthy planting material.
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Deep plough the land so as to expose the inner soil layer to sun.
- Cut and remove
the outer layer of the rhizome and sundry for 3-4 days after smearing it with slurry
of cowdung and ash.
- Set traps using pseudostem of approximately 1/2 m length,
which are split lengthwise and laid in the field. Adults attracted to it during
nights may be collected and destroyed.
- Application of Thiomethoxam
25 WG 0.2 g/l or 1 g/ 5 litre or Fipronil 0.3 G 10 g formulation /plant
at planting followed by two applications 2 and 5 months after planting
- Sucker treatment with pseudomonas fluorescens @ 20 gl litre
+sucker treatment with entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis
bacteriophora @ 4 infected wax moth larvae /plant at planting followed by
two applications 2 and 5 months after planting
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Aphid (Pentalonia
nigronervosa)
The insect, is the vector of the virus causing bunchy top disease. Yellowish green
nymphs and adults suck cell sap and devitalise plants. Affected parts become discoloured
and malformed. High humidity favours rapid multiplication of this pest. The aphids
are mostly observed on the lower surface of the leaves.
Spindle leaf miner
(Assuania sp.)
Spray dimethoate 0.05% on the spindle for controlling the leaf miner.
Nematodes
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Nematode infection in corm
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Meloidogyne incognita
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Pratylenchus coffeae
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Heterodera oryzicola
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Major species are burrowing nematode (Radopholus sp.), root knot nematode
(Meloidogyne incognita), root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus coffeae)
and cyst nematode (Heterodera oryzicola).
In case of severe infestation there will be high reduction in the number of leaves,
total bunch weight and the number of fruits.
Control
Pare the rhizomes and apply neem cake @ 1 kg/plant at the time of the planting
For managing nematodes paring + banana sucker treatment with
Bacillus macerans/ Paecilomyces lilacinus @ 5 g/ sucker + pit application @ 10 g/ pit 45 days
after planting can be recommended.
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