Welcome

SEMINAR
ON

“Emerging pest problems in India and critical

issues in their management”

Presented By
Nitish B.Ghodake

Seminar Incharge
Dr. U.P.Barkhade
Head,
Department of Agricultural Entomology,
Post Graduate Institute, Dr. PDKV, Akola.
 Advisory committee

Dr. U.P. Barkhade (Chairman)

Dr. S.M. Thakare (Member)

Shri S.S. Munje (Member)

Dr. G.K. Lande (Member)

Dr. R.M. Gade (Member)

 Topics to be covered

Introduction

Losses caused due to pests

What is an emerging pest ?

Causes of emerging pests

Potential impact of climate change on emerging insect
pests

Examples of some emerging pests

Critical issues in management

conclusion
 Introduction

Green revolution led to increased food supplies but caused
several ecological, environmental and socioeconomic
problems.

Green revolution technology relied on use of dwarf, semi

dwarf, high yielding varieties; increased use of
agrochemicals and irrigation.

These practices favoured build up of pests, increased

intensity.

Several minor pests became major and new pest problems

appeared.
• Misuse of pesticides led to problem of pesticide resistance,
resurgence and contamination of environment.

• Biotechnology has added new dimension in pest management

but its potential and effect on humans are debatable.

• In addition, the climate change has profound effect on the

intensity of pest problems.

• Hence, there is considerable shift in insect pest problems

and crop losses.

• Many insects having minor or secondary status are becoming

major problems.
 Global losses (%) due to various
categories of pests in major crops
Crop Pests Weeds Pathogens Viruses Total
Cotton 12.3 8.6 7.2 0.7 28.8
Maize 9.6 10.5 8.5 2.7 31.3
Potato 10.9 8.3 14.5 6.6 40.3
Rice 15.1 10.2 10.8 1.4 37.5
Soybean 8.8 7.5 8.9 1.2 26.4
Wheat 7.9 7.7 10.2 2.4 28.2
Average 10.8 8.8 10.0 2.5 32.1

Oerke (2006)
 Estimation of losses caused by insect pests to major
agricultural crops in India
Crop Actual Approx. estimated loss in Hypothetical Value of
production yield production loss in
* (million (mllion million Rs.
tonne) Total tonne)
% (million tonne)
Cotton 44.03 30 18.9 62.9 339660
Rice 96.7 25 32.2 128.9 240138
Maize 19 20 4.8 238 29450
Sugarcane 348.2 20 87.1 435.3 70667
Rapeseed- 5.8 20 1.5 7.3 26100
mustard
groundnut 9.2 15 1.6 10.8 25165
Other oilseeds 14.7 15 2.6 17.3 35851
Pulses 14.8 15 2.6 17.4 43551
Coarse cereals 17.9 10 2.0 19.9 11933
Wheat 78.9 5 4.1 82.7 41368
Total/average 17.5 863884
Production and MSP fixed by GOI for 2007-08, are adpted from anonymous (2010)
Worldwide crop losses (%) due to insect and
mite pests during pre- and post- green
revolution era
Crop Pre-green Post-green Changes in losses
revolution revolution (88-90) (2 - 1)
(1965)(1) (2)
Rice 27.5 2.7 - 6.8
Wheat 5.1 9.3 + 4.2
Potato 5.9 16.1 + 1.2
Maize 13.0 14.5 + 1.5
Cotton 16.0 15.4 - 0.6
Soybean 4.4 10.4 + 6.0
Barley 3.9 8.8 + 4.9
Average 10.8 13.6 + 2.8

Benedict (2003)
Crop losses (%) due to insect pests during
pre- and post- green revolution in India
Crop Pre-green Post-green Changes in losses
revolution revolution (early (2 - 1)
(1960s)(1) 2000s) (2)
Cotton 18.0 50.0 + 32.0
Groundnut 5.0 15.0 + 10.0
Other oilseeds 5.0 25.0 + 20.0
pulses 5.0 15.0 + 10.0
Rice 10.0 25.0 + 15.0
Maize 5.0 25.0 + 20.0
Sorghum and millets 3.5 30.0 + 26.5
Wheat 3.0 5.0 + 2.0
sugarcane 10.0 20.0 + 10.0
Average 7.2 23.3 + 16.1

Dhaliwal et al. (2007)

What is an emerging pest?

The pest reported from an area for a particular
crop whose population has been increasing
over a period of time considerably to cause
damage above EIL.

The pest, whose status has been changing from

minor to major or secondary to primary.
 Causes of emerging pests

Favourable Prevailing weather condition

Absence of natural enemies

Abundant food supply

Use of pesticides

Use of fertilizers

Irrigation

Bt cotton in case of emergence of sucking pests
 Potential impact of climate change on
emerging insect pests
Increased CO2 concentration
1) May induce plant growth and enhance the availability of food for the
insects associated with their host plants.

2) Under high growth rate of plants, they may produce denser canopies
with high humidity thus providing favourable microclimate.

3) Expected to cause changes in physical or chemical defense, and

chemical composition of their tissues, decrease in protein content
and increase in C:N ratio may reduce the nutritive quality of food.

4) Slow rate of plant material decomposition is expected to leave plant

residue undecomposed for longer period which could favour the
survival rate of hibernating insects.
 Rising temperature
1) Host exposure to more number of pest generations per growing season due to
high ambient temperature could trigger deactivation of host plant resistant gene.

2) Increase in food quality due to increase in nitrogen under stress i.e. increased
C:N ratio resulting in increased feeding of herbivores to derive more amino
acids and sudden emergence of pests.

3) Increase in temperature and in the length of crop growing season for tropical and
subtropical crops will reduce the development period and increase the number of
generations resulting in increased pest load.

4) Some cultivars could become more vulnerable to insect pests as a result of stress
caused by higher temperature or other climate change.

5) Some natural control mechanisms could ‘decouple’ insect pests and their natural
enemies as they react differently to changes in temperatures. e.g. Brown plant
hoppers are 17 times more tolerant to 400C than its predator.

6) New biotypes could evolve with greater possibility in multivoltine insect pests.
 Precipitation
1) The water stress changes the plant process and its thermal
environment in such a way that he stressed plants become
more susceptible and suitable to certain phytophagous
insects.

2) The stressed plant become more susceptible through erosion

of their defense system and may become more suitable due
to accumulation of certain constituents, which lead to faster
growth, higher survival and more reproduction of insects.

3) The insect outbreaks are often preceded by the periods of

unusual drought conditions.

4) There could be population explosions in species that respond

favourably to high rainfall or drought by increasing their
feeding and/or breeding behavior.
Emerging
pests
Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley

P. solenopsis appeared on cotton in Pakistan during 2005 and
attained pest status in cotton growing areas of Punjab and Sindh
provinces.

Survey across 47 locations of the country between months of late

2007 and early 2008 established the predominance of P. solenopsis
in India.

Widespread infestation of the pest and economic
damage to cotton growing states of the country
viz. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
and Maharashtra during 2008-09 crop season.

This pest prefers cotton among all other host

plants.
 Paracoccus marginatus

Incidence and severity of papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus on cotton
with its expanding host range across crops of industrial importance viz., cotton
mulberry, tapioca, papaya and jatropha was found in Tamil Nadu.
(Anonymous,2010)

The Papaya mealybug has caused havoc in agricultural and horticultural crops,
ever since its first report from Coimbatore in 2007 .

In 2009, it caused severe damage to economically important crops and huge
losses to farmers in Coimbatore, Erode, Tirupur and Salem districts of Tamil
Nadu.

In the same year, standing mulberry crop over 1,500 hectares in Tirupur was
destroyed by the pest.

Recently noticed in Karnataka, certain parts of Andhra and Mallapuram and

Thrissur districts of Tamil Nadu.

Now it has spread to Pune area of Maharashtra and also likely to be reported from
other parts of the country as well.
 1

1 – Adults of papaya mealybug

2 – on Congress grass
3 – on Papaya
4 – on Cotton

4
 Spodoptera litura

There was an outbreak of S. litura on soybean in Kota region of Rajasthan
and a loss of Rs 300 crore was estimated.

The pest also struck in epidemic form on soybean in Vidarbha region of

Maharashtra in August 2008 and caused severe losses in yields to the tune
of 1392 crores.

As Bt cotton (BG-1) does not provide protection against the
pest, it inflicts heavy losses in cotton. The intensity of S.
litura is likely to further increase under the potential
climate change, as it has been found to consume more than
30 per cent cotton leaves at elevated CO2 levels (Kranthi et
al., 2009).

Outbreaks of S. litura were noticed in major sunflower

growing areas of Central and Southern India. During 2005,
the outbreak of S. litura led to more than 90 per cent
defoliation of sunflower cultivar germplasm (Sujatha and
Lakshminarayana, 2007).
Spodoptera mauritia Boisduval

During the last few years it has emerged as serious pest in eastern
India and caused severe losses to wet season rice production.

In eastern India, it has become a regular pest in western Orissa and
has also been recorded in coastal districts of the state. This pest also
shares the same status in Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhatisgarh.

During kharif 2007, a severe outbreak was observed in Tangi Block
of Cuttack district.

During kharif 2008, outbreak was reported in 13
blocks of Sonepur district in western Orissa where 6-8
larvae/hill were recorded in the initial stage.

During 2009 severe outbreak of this pest was observed

in about 1.25 lakh hectares of kharif paddy in 13
districts of western Orissa recording about 80-90%
damage.
 Mirid bug

4 species are known to cause damage
Brown mirid, Creontiades biseratence (Major in TN and MH)
Brown mirid, C. dilutus
Green mirid, C. pacificus
Crop mirid, Sydnia kingbergii

Recently the cotton mirid bug has emerged as an important insect pest on Bt
cotton and its incidence in India was recorded during 2006 in Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The study undertaken during 2008-09 on the population level of
the bug covering 7 districts as well as other reports showed that
C. biseratense could be considered as an emerging threat to
cotton cultivation in Karnataka.

Mirid bug incidence on cotton squares and bolls causes

shedding and leads to significant reduction in yield.

Parrot beaking
 Ceratovacuna lanigera

Invasion of sugarcane woolly aphid, Ceratovacuna lanigera Zehntner in
Maharashtra in 2002 is another example of pest’s reaction to climate change
and getting mostly naturally regulated.

The aphid appeared in epidemic form in July, 2002 in Sangli Province of

Maharashtra. It spread to other parts of Maharashtra covering an area of
1.43 lakh hectares by March, 2003 and caused upto 30 % losses in sugar
yields.

Then it migrated to throughout the state except Konkan region
and gradually spread to parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh.

In Karnataka, it was first detected in August 2002 in Athani,

Belgaum. However, within an year, it quickly spread to Bagalkot,
Gulbarga, Bidar, Bijapur, Haveri, Dharwad, Davangere and down
south in Shimoga (Bambawale et al.,2009).
 Maruca vitrata (Geyer)

M. vitrata is becoming predominant insect pest in recent years in all pigeonpea

growing areas of India.

Maruca has emerged as one of the major constraint because of the coincidence of

high humidity and moderate temperature in September – October coinciding with

the flowering of the crop in India.


In the field experiments undertaken during 2005 and 2009 at Agricultural Research

Station, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India. Results indicated that incidence of spotted pod

borer was high in early (140-150 days) and late maturing (190-200 days) varieties,

moderate in medium duration (170-180 days). It is noteworthy to mention that the

incidence was high in late sown conditions and also in varieties having clustering type

of branching habit.
 Bemisia argentifolii

The silver leaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii, or 'B' biotype of B. tabaci,
has been identified for the first time in India, near Bangalore.

This whitefly has

wider host range,
rapid reproduction ability
inflicts more damage
more resistant to insecticides

Recently, High populations of the B biotype caused failure of the tomato

crop in an important vegetable production area near Bangalore, through
direct damage to plants, as well from vectoring tomato leaf curl virus.

The silverleaf whitefly could soon spread to affect a wider range of

crops, including many vegetables, tobacco and cotton.
Myllocerus spp. & Pyrilla perpusilla

The grey weevil, Myllocerus spp. and sugarcane lear hopper,

Pyrilla perpusilla Walker have assumed pest status on sorghum
and pearl millet.

The grey weevil attacks the crop both at early and late
stages of development.

Heavy incidence or Pyrilla was recorded on grain and
fodder sorghums in the entire northern belt of the
country. A perfect hopper burn was also observed on
some sorghum varieties at the farm of Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

Pearl millet was equally attacked by Pyrilla

(Kishore Prem,2005).
Tanaostigmodes cajaninae La Salle
• A wasp, Tanaostigmodes cajaninae, which was earlier considered as

a minor pest is on the increase in recent years emerging as a major

pest on pigeonpea.

• This pest was first reported from India by Lateef (1977) on

pigeonpea .
•In a survey made during 2006-2008 in Tamil Nadu on the occurrence

of pest, its seasonal incidence and their natural enemies, it was

observed that the pest is on the increasing trend over the years.
 Plutella xylostella
,,

An outbreak of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus) on

cauliflower was reported in Aligarh, western part of Uttar Pradesh, during

September to first fortnight of October during 2006.

The infestation increased gradually from first fortnight of August and lead to

total loss (100 % yield loss) of the crop (Ahmed et al., 2009).

Moreover, the current climatic change may lead to increase in severity of this

pest in many regions of the world. For instance, P. xylostella may have two
additional generations per year in Japan (Cheri, 2007)
 Oryctes rhinoceros

The rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros (Linnaeus) is an

established pest of coconut palms in India. Quite recently,

it has become a problem for oil palm in southern states of
India.

The incidence of the pest in oil palm plantations closer to

natural forest areas has been noticed at many places.

 Helopeltis antonii Signoret
• ,

• Tea mosquito bug, Helopeltis antonii Signoret is a serious constraint in

cashew (west coast-Kerala, Karnataka, and east coast-Tamil Nadu).

• Cashew tracts of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa are free from this

pest. The hot spot areas of the bug across the cashew tract of the whole
country have been demarcated.
• Taking into consideration the optimum temperature during

flushing and following stages. The pest may spread to new areas
under current scenario of climate change and states like Andhra
Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa may come under attack (Gupta
et al., 2009).
Trymalitis marginatus Meyric

Sapota seed borer is introduced pest in Konkan region of

Maharashtra. (Puri and Mote, 2003).

First noticed in ‘ Kankradi’ area of Dahanu, Thane. The crop

suffered badly during 1999-2000 to the extent of 40-90 % during

September- March. (Patel, 2001).

The area of 225 ha was found to be affected by this pest comprising

of 19 villages in Dahanu tahsil during February, 2000.

Larvae Pupa Adult

Sapota seed borer: stages and damage

Damaged seed kernel Damaged fruit

 Insects likely to become serious in changing ecosystems
Insect pest Scientific name Crops

Whitefly Bemicia tabaci (Gennadius) Cotton, tobacco

Fruit fly Bactrocera spp.
Mealy Bugs Several species
Thrips Several species
Wheat aphid Macrosiphum miscanthi
(Takahashi)
Gall midge Several species
Polyphagous pests Several species
Serpentine leaf miner Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess)
Hoppers Several species
Pyrilla Pyrilla perpusilla (Walker)
Gall midge Orseolia oryzae (Wood-
Mason)
Modified from Puri and Rammurthy (2009)
Fruits and vegetables
Several field and horticultural
crops
Groundnut, cotton, grapes, citrus
and pomegranate
Wheat, barley, oats
Fruit crops
Many agroecosystems
Cotton, tomato, cucurbits, several
other vegetables
Mango
Sugarcane or rice at times
Rice
Critical issues in management
Sucking pest – these pests inflicts direct as well as indirect losses by acting as
vectors of plant viruses.

Being vectors, it is difficult to establish ETL for these pests.

Thick coating of waxy secretion, dust deposits over webs makes chemical
pesticides ineffective; hence wax dissolving organic solvent with
insecticides is required.

Hidden infestation makes it difficult to understand the start of infestation as
in case of woolly apple aphids, mealy bugs, mites etc.

It is difficult to apply pesticides in case of dense plant canopy crops as
sugarcane also it requires application of pesticides at proper site and time.

Control measures needs to be taken up by all cultivators on campaign basis.
Especially in case of pests spread by wind.

Proper management of nitrogenous fertilizers and water to avoid
vulnerability of crop and favourable climate to the pest.

Use of optimum plant density, inter or mixed cropping to facilitate better
aeration, pesticide application and movement of natural enemies.
Contd…

Conservation and augmentation of generalist predators is necessary. The
specialist predator and parasitoids of sucking pests may be identified,
protected, collected, reared and released on routine basis.

Farmers’ training in respect of identification of pests and natural enemies to
protect them and to avoid unnecessary application of pesticides.

Due to wise host range of suckers, it is very difficult to control as all host
plants cannot be sprayed.

Presence of preferred host throughout the year.

Systemic insecticides leads to residue problem while synthetic pyrethroids
leads to outbreaks of different pests. So therefore frequent applications of
these pesticides are not advisable.
Internal feeders/soil pests – these pests require careful monitoring for accessing
pest status and for implementation of management strategy.

Being internal feeder, it is difficult to understand the start of infestation. By the
time of appearance of external symptoms, damage is already done; hence there
is need to develop some effective system of monitoring the externally visible
stages. Control measures needs to be applied on community basis.

Clean cultivation, collection and destruction of infested fruits and plant parts
throughout year on regular basis. E.g. fruit flies.

It is difficult to apply pesticides on trees due to tallness and thick canopy. E.g.
mango fruit fly

Information on realistic or potential yield loss and package of nematode
management is lacking. There is need to develop eco friendly approaches.
Emphasis should be given on development of integrated nematode
management programme.

Nematode may transmit plant viruses or may interact with other pathogens to
cause disease complex that are worse than disease caused by pathogen alone.
contd….

Nematode infestation may increase host plant susceptibility to other

environmental stresses such as higher temperature or moisture. Nematode

infestation may nullify host plant resistance to pathogens.

Some nematode diseases are vectored by insect pests.

e.g. Pine wilt nematode – long horn beetle

Red ring of coconut – palm weevils

Polyphagous, sporadic and cosmopolitan pests –

As these pests have wide host range, common approach should be made.

Repeated application of an insecticide should be avoided as they have

developed resistance against large number of insecticides. Insecticides of
different chemical group may be used to avoid resistance development.

These pests have large number of natural enemies, care should be taken to
protect those. Botanical or microbial pesticide may be used to avoid the bad
impact of chemical pesticides.

Augmentation of indigenous species of natural enemies by undertaking

missed cropping with maize, cowpea and sorghum in cotton; greengram,
black gram, and sorghum in pigeon pea; mustard in reducing the
Helicoverpa menace. While sparse planting of castor in groundnut results in
reduced infestation of spodoptera.
 Conclusion

The ever increasing human population in our country require
increased amount of food and fibre from decreasing agricultural
land.

Modern agriculture has largely achieved these objectives but

intensive cultivation of HYV’s and use of agrochemicals in
geometric rate has resulted in environmental deterioration and
aggravation of pest problems.

Many reported or hitherto unknown species have assumed

serious status and some of the serious pests have developed
resistance to one or more group of pesticides.

On the top of this, we have to increase rather than
maintaining production and productivity levels from existing
agricultural land. This will put further strain on our fragile
agroecosystem.

We, the entomologists have to work hand in hand with other

agricultural scientists and farmers to meet this need of an
hour.

The emerging and future insect pest problems have to be

tackled with IPM approach as a part of a sustainable crop
production technology.
51 Thank You . . .