Insect pests of

Sugarcane
 Top borer of sugarcane Scirpophaga nivella (Fabricus) (Pyrallidae: lepidoptera)

 Stem borer of sugarcane Chilo infuscatellus Snellen (Pyrallidae: lepidoptera)

 Root borer of sugarcane Emmalocera depressella Swinhoe (Pyrallidae: lepidoptera)

 Gurdaspur borer Bissetia steniella (Hampson) (Pyrallidae: lepidoptera)

 Sugarcane leafhopper / pyrilla Pyrilla perpusilla (Walker) (Lophidae: Homoptera)

 Sugarcane black bug Cavelerius excavatus (Distant) (Lygaeidae: Hemiptera)

 Sugarcane whitefly Aleurolobus barodensis (Maskell) (Aleyrodidae: Homoptera)

 Sugarcane mealy bug Saccharicoccus sacchari (Cockerell) (Pseudococcidae: Hemiptera)

 Termite Odontotemes obesus (Ramber)

Microtermes obesci Holmgren (Termitidae: Isoptera)
 Pink borer Sesamia inferens (Walker) (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera)

 Sugarcane wooly aphid Ceratovacuna lanigera (Aphidiade: Hemiptera)

Top borer of sugarcane Scirpophaga nivella (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera)

Status: Most destructive pest of sugarcane

Distribution: It is found in China, Taiwan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,

Myanmar, Vietnam, Java and Fiji.

Host plant: Major feeding plant is sugarcane.

Food Plants: Sugarcane and wild plants such as sarkanda and kahi.

ETL: 10% attacked plants.

Description of life stages
Egg: Oval, scale like covered with anal tuft of hairs of the female.

Larvae: Creamy white, dorsal vessel prominet, thoracic region tapper towards
head.
Pupae: Brownish with abdominal tip broadly rounded.

Adult: Pure white, fore wings long and hind wings short and wide. Female
have redish-brown anal tuft of hairs. Male is smaller then the female.

Larvae

Pupae
Life Cycle

~300 eggs
Life History

Active period: March to November.

Inactive period: December to February.

Optimum activity: April to July.

No. of
Generations: 4-5 generations
Mode of damage
Hole formation: Caterpillars bore into midrib, by leaving reddish markings and
small holes on the leaves.

Dead heart: Then it bore in the upper portion of stem, causing "dead heart"
symptoms.

Bunchy top: Gradually, side branches start growing from a lower node, giving a
characteristic "bunchy top“ appearance to the plant.
Damage symptoms

REDISH STREAKD/RED MARKING BUNCHY TOP DEAD HEART BUNCHY TOP HOLE
Control
Cultural control:
 Harvesting should be done during Dec-Feb.
 Attacked shots must be cut at the ground level from April-June.
 Installation of pheromone and light traps.
 The pest can be controlled by regular collection and destruction of the eggs.
 Dead heart and bunchy tops should be removed from crops.
 Avoid ratooning & use infestation free sets.
 Use resistance verities.
 Intercropping with spices, like coriander, onion, garlic, fenugreek and fennel,
and other crops, such as wheat, potato and mustard, reduces top borer
incidence.
 In spring-planted sugarcane, intercrop with sunflower reduces incidence of
second brood.
Control

Biological control:
 Tricogramma chilonis and Telenomus beneficiens are egg parasatoid.
 Isotima javensis are larval and pupal parasatoid.
Chemical control:
*Chlorantraniprole 375 ml in 400 L water/acre
*Carbofuran 10-15kg/acre *Cartap 13-15kg/acre
Stem borer of sugarcane Chilo infuscatellus (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera)

Other name: Early shoot borer

Status: Serious pest of sugarcane

Distribution: Widely distributed in sugarcane growing areas of Pakistan,

India, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Myanmar, Taiwan and
Philippines.

Host plant: Major feeding plant is sugarcane.

Food Plants: Sugarcane, maize, bajra, sarkanda, kahi, bru and some grases.

ETL: 10% attacked plants.

Description of life stages
Egg: Flattened and scale like, pale yellow when freshly laid.

Larvae: Dirty white and pale yellow with 5 brownish longitudinal strips on the
body. Head and thorax are dark brown.

Pupae: Reddish brownish, abdominal segments furnished with zigzag lines.

Adult: Pale grayish-brown , tinged with dark colouration, front wing brownish
and dark spots along the longitudinal veins, one in the center and black
spot on the outer margin. Hind wings are whitish with apical light puff
area.
Life Cycle
~300 eggs
Hatch in 7-9 days

Instar: 5-6 7-12 days

3-4 weeks

28-35 days

4-5 days
300-450 eggs (11-36)
Hatch in 5-7 days

7-10 days 2-4 days

Life History
Active period: March to November.

Inactive period: November to February.

Optimum activity: April to June (Before rainy season).

No. of
Generations: 5 generations

Life cycle: 5-6 weeks

Mode of damage
Dead Heart: Larva make holes in shoot below the ground level and then enter
into it thus causes dead heart which give offensive smell. Dead heart can easily
be pulled.

Light soil and in dry weather favor its attack.

Internode damage: After cane formation larvae remain confined to the few
internodes.

Cane yield & Sugar contents reduction: The pest cause considerable yield and
sugar contents reduction.
Damage symptoms

Dead heart Bore hole

Control
Cultural control:
 Harvesting and ploughing of field should be done during Nov.-Feb.
 Stubbles should be collected and destroyed.
 Installation of pheromone and light traps.
 Sugarcane intercropped with Daincha recorded the lowest early shoot borer incidence.
 Early planting during December – January escapes the early shoot borer incidence.
 The pest can be controlled by regular collection and destruction of the eggs.
 Avoid sowing maize, jowar and okra intercrops.
 coriander, spinach, fenugreek, soybean and green gram hinder population build-up.
 Ensure adequate moisture to bring down the soil temperature and increase humidity.
 Partial earthing up on 45 days after planting reduces the incidence.
 Use high tillering varieties suffer less damage than low tillering varieties
 Remove dead hearts during April and May and introduce a sharp spike in the cavity, move
up and down to kill larvae.
 Avoid ratooning & use infestation free sets.
Control
Machenical control:
 Internode borer pupates outside the cane stalk in leaf trash. Periodical
detrashing, preferably at fifth and seventh months, denies pupation sites or
opportunities and reduces pupal survival.
 Also, in detrashed crop, dispersing larvae remain exposed and become
vulnerable to predation. Detrashing and burning of the trash, with a view to
destroying the larvae and pupae attached with leaf sheaths, proves helpful and
is generally recommended for controlling the internode borer.
 Detrashing coupled with wide row spacing keeps the crop clean and enables
application of insecticides in endemic farms.
 Setting up sex pheromone traps at 25 per hectare beginning at fourth or fifth
month age of the crop with three to four lure changes at 30–45-day intervals
reduces moth population.
Control
Biological control:
 Tricogramma chilonis are egg parasitoid.
 Apenteles flavipes and Stenobracon sp. are larval parasatoid.

Chemical control:
*Chlorantraniprole 375 ml in 400 L water/acre
*Chlorpyriphos 250 ml in 500 l of water/acre
*Carbofuran 10-15kg/acre
*Cartap 13-15kg/acre
Root borer of sugarcane Emmalocera depressela (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera)

Status: Minor pest of sugarcane.

Distribution: Found in sugarcane growing areas of Pakistan and India.

Host plant: Major feeding plant is sugarcane.

Food Plants: Sugarcane, sorgum, baru, sarkanda and napier grass etc.

ETL: 10% attacked plants.

Description of life stages
Egg: Scale like creamy white.

Larvae: Full grown larvae is creamy white with transverse grooves on the body
segments.

Pupae: Yellow brown, tip of abdomen knobbed.

Adult: Moths are pale-yellow brown. Fore wings are pale or yellowish brown,
while hind wings are white
Life Cycle

10-18 days
277-355 eggs
Hatch in 5-8 days

5-7 days

4-5 days
300-450 eggs (11-36)
Instar: 5
Hatch in 5-7 days
7-8 weeks

(a) singly laid eggs on leaf lamina (b) single egg (c) grown-up larva (d) pupa (e) moth
Life History
Active period: April to October.

Inactive period: November to February.

Optimum activity: April to July.

No. of
Generations: 5 generations.

Life cycle: 6-7 weeks.

.
Mode of damage
Dead Heart: After hatching the young larvae bore into stem below soil surface.
Drying up on the inner whorl of leaves and formation of dead heart. The dead
heart is not easily pulled.

In certain years the young plants are killed.

Less tillering: In root borer attack less number of tillers are observed.

Cane yield & Sugar contents reduction: The plant attacked after cane
formation are not killed, although cane length, weight and sugar contents are
reduced.

Yellowing of leaves: In affected canes, lower leaves show yellowing with

bronze tinge at the edges, and no dead hearts are observed.
Damage symptoms of root borer

(a) External bore holes on cane surface (b) internal tunnels with larvae (c) pupal case in damaged cane (d) damaged canes at early stages
Control
Cultural control:
 Harvesting and ploughing of field to destroying hibernating larvae.
 In cases of severe infestation, fields should be ploughed up and affected
stubbles with larvae should be collected and destroyed.
 Earthing up prevents the adult emergence.
 Flood irrigation (Overflooding), possibly after every 10 days.
 Deep harvesting of canes, removal and destruction of dead hearts.
 Ratooning of the crop should be done in the year of infestation.
 Stubbles should be collected and destroyed.
 sugarcane grown with black gram as intercrop lower incidence of root borer.
 Installation of pheromone and light traps.
Control

Biological control:
 Tricogramma chilonis are egg parasitoid.
 Apenteles flavipes and Stenobracon sp. are larval parasatoid.

Chemical control:
*Chlorantraniprole 375 ml in 400 L water/acre
*Chlorpyriphos 250 ml in 500 l of water/acre
*Carbofuran 10-15kg/acre
*Cartap 13-15kg/acre
Gurdaspur borer Bissetia steniella (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera)

Status: Destructive pest of canal colonies in Pakistan and India .

Distribution: Found in sugarcane growing areas of Pakistan, India and Vietnam.

Host plant: Major feeding plant is sugarcane.

Food Plants: Sugarcane and wild grasses etc.

ETL: 10% attacked plants.

Description of life stages
90-300 eggs (3-22)
Egg: Flattened scale like changing to dark gray before hatching. hatch in 4-9 days
.

Larvae: Full grown larvae is creamy white ornamented with four longitudinal
reddish brown strips. Instar: 5
Duration: 19-27 days

Pupae: Yellow brown. Duration: 4-13 days

Adult: Dull brown. Hind wing is whiter then the fore wing which has dark spots
between the veins along the outer margin. Duration: 4-5 days
Life History
Active period: July to November

Inactive period: November to June

Optimum activity: June to November

No. of
Generations: 2-3 generations

Life cycle: 5-6 weeks

Mode of damage
Spiral galleries: The pest exhibits both gregarious and solitary phases. After
hatching (July), larvae wander about for 4-5 hours in search of a suitable site and
enter the cane gregariously through a single hole. They feed gregariously in
galleries in a spiral manner making minute punctures on the rind from inside.
Externally the tunnel appears as a dark spiral made up of a series of punctures.

Straight tunnel: Third instar larvae start dispersing to other canes singly or in
groups of two to three, and in the later stages, one caterpillar is found infesting
the internodes in each plant.

Leaf withering: Leaves wither due to larval feeding just below the rind, but as
the infestation advances and the central tunnel is formed, the entire whorl of
leaves turns yellow and dries up.
Life Cycle
Control
Cultural control:
 Ploughing and stirring till June should be done to destroying hibernating larvae.
 Infested parts should be cut very below the infestation point and fed to animals.
 Cane should be harvested below the soil surface to kill larvae.
 Earthing up can reduce the emergence of adult.
 Borer-free setts may be used for planting.
 Use resistance verities.
 Cutting and destroying infested cane tops before the borers spread to other
parts.
 Collection and destruction of egg masses aid in prevention of pest build-up.
 Soaking the setts in water for 12 hrs before planting is effective.
 Ratooning of heavily infested crops is to be avoided.
Control

Biological control:
 The tachnid Paratheresia claripalpis.
 The braconid Spathiuse laboratus
 A tachnid Lixophaga diatraeae
 Trichograma chilonis
 Tetrastichus israeli

Chemical control:
*Carbofuran 10-15kg/acre (Soil application followed by light irrigation)
*Cartap 13-15kg/acre (Soil application followed by light irrigation)
Sugarcane leafhopper Pyrilla perpussila (Lophopidae: Homoptera)

Status: Most destructive sucking pest Sugarcane .

Distribution: Found in sugarcane growing areas of Pakistan and India.

Host plant: Major feeding plant is sugarcane.

Food Plants: Sugarcane wheat, barley, oat, maize, sorghum, baru, swank and
sudan grass.

ETL: 3-5 adult or nymph/leaf.

Description of life stages
Egg: Oval pale-white.

Nymph: Grayish brown and has two white prominent feather like filament at the
tail end of the body .

Adult: Body is straw coloured, wings light brown with dark patches or spots. On
front it has snout and prominent red eyes.
Life Cycle
27-52 days in summer
18-20 weeks in winter

300-536 eggs (22-50 cluster)

5 instars
Hatching:
Summer: 7-12 days
Winter: 20-40 days

Summer: 8 weeks
Winter: 5-6 months
Life History
Active period: March to October (breeds throughout the year on different crops).

Inactive period: November to March.

Optimum activity: July to September.

No. of
Generations: 3-4 generations.

Max. loss: 3rd and 4th generation.

Mode of damage
Sucking cell sap: Both nymph and adults suck the sap from the undersurface of
leaves near midrib, resulting in yellowing and in case of severe infestation, the
leaves gradually turn pale and dry up.

Sooty mould: Adults and nymphs suck phloem sap from leaves and excrete
honeydew on the foliage leading to sooty mould development. Such direct and
indirect damage affects sugar yield and quality.

Reduction in sucrose contents: Consequent to Pyrilla attack, there is a

reduction in sucrose content and purity in juice ranging from 2.0-34.2% and 5-
12 units, respectively.

Poor quality Jaggery: The syrup obtained from severely infested canes does
not set well and results in poor quality jaggery and gur.
Damage symptoms
Control
Cultural control:
 Destruction of egg masses.
 Hand collection of adult and nymphs.
 Clean cultivation immediately harvesting.
 Removal of sprouts and stubbles.
 Avoid growing ratoon.
 sorghum and sugarcane in adjacent fields to prevent infestation.
 Burning all trash after harvesting the sugarcane crop in an infested field.
 Ovoid excessive use of fertilizer and irrigation.
 The burning of trash destroy unhatched eggs and overwintering nymphs.
 Growing non-lodging types is advisable as the lodging intensifies damage.
 Use resistance verities
 Light traps can be effective.
Control
Biological control:
 Epipyrops melanoleuca.
 Epiricania melanoleuca is an effective parasite
 Brumus suturalis
 Chrysoperla carnea
 Metarhizium anisopliae
 Clubiona drassodes,
 Coccinella septempunctata,
 Menochilus sexmaculatus

Chemical control:
*Deltamethrin 250-300 ml/acre
*Carbosulfan 500 ml/acre
 Odontotermes obsesus
Termite Microtermes obesi
(Termitidae: Isoptera)

Status: Destructive pest of sugarcane and other crops.

Distribution: Found in almost all over the worlds.

Food Plants: Sugarcane wheat, cotton, chick pea, barley, oat, maize, sorghum
annual and perennial plants etc.

ETL: 10% damage.

Description of life stages
Eggs: The queen can hatch between a few hundred and few thousand eggs per
day.

Larvae: The eggs hatch into larvae, which are immature young termites. Unable
to feed themselves, they rely on the king to feed them through his
salivary glands.

Workers: The worker stage is terminal, meaning once termites reach the worker
stage, they cannot grow any further.

Soldiers: This stage is also terminal, and work as soldiers for the termitorium.
Both live for 1 to 2 years.

Nymphs: Nymphs are either destined to be one of the two types of reproductive
termites: supplemental reproductives and winged
reproductives (alates).
Description of life stages
Supplemental reproductives: They are known as the "backup kings and
queens" their function is to increase the growth rate of the colony.

Alates: They are commonly known as winged reproductives and responsible for
forming new colonies. In a mature colony, thousands of nymphs are
destined to become alates.

Dealates: Only 1% of the alates that fly out into the open are lucky enough to
survive this process. Those that do will shed their wings, pair off, and start
to mate with other dealates.

Queen: If a pair of dealates come together, and the conditions are right for them,
they may form a new colony and become king and queen.

King: The king is responsible for mating with the queen for her life. Both male
and female secretes pheromones to determine how many of their offspring
become nymphs, workers or soldiers.
 Description of life stages

Eggs Larvae Worker Soldiers Nymphs

Supplemental reproductives Alates Dealates Queen King

Life cycle
Mode of damage
 Termites attack the planted sugarcane setts, usually from cut ends or eye buds
but in severe cases internodes as well.

 Bud damage result in poor germination.

 After germination, roots are attacked, eating all their contents and filling the
galleries with soil, finally leaves dry up and plants die.

 The trunk of the sugarcane turns red in the initial stages of the termite attack
that retard the growth, turns dry and fell down.
Damage symptoms
Control
Non-Chemical control:
 Locate termiteria and destroy queen.
 Wooden buildings should be built on cement layer and should not touch the
ground directly.
Cultural control:
 Always use well rotten farm yard manure.
 Avoid green manuring.
 Removal and destruction of stubbles.
 Use of well rotten neem cake manure @ 25 cartload/acre.
Control
Chemical control:
 Sugarcane: Treat sugarcane sets with Chlorpyriphos or spray in furrows before
sowing.
 Mix 10 kg of “Fipronil GR in 15-20 kg of dry sand and broadcast uniformly in
one acre over cane setts in furrows and cover the sets, apply light irrigation.
 Wheat: Treat seed with 400 ml Chlorpyriphos (1 L water/100 kg seed) or 1 L in
irrigation water.
 Chilies: flooding of 1 L Chlorpyriphos with irrigation water.
 Fruit plants: Treat pits with 0.2% Chlorpyriphos.
 Trunks: Spray 1.0% Chlorpyriphos around trunk.
 Buildings: Apply 0.5% Chlorpyriphos @ 5 L/m2 beneath the building and
around foundation.