PESTS OF SORGHUM :: Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management in Sorghum

A. Cultural methods

1. Complete the sowing of sorghum in a short time to avoid continuous flowering, which favours grain midge and earhead bug multiplication.
2. Sow Sorghum: lablab/cowpea (4:1) as an intercrop to minimize stem borer damage.
3. Take up early sowing of sorghum immediately after the receipt of South West or North East Monsoon to minimize the shoot fly incidence.
4. Use increased seed rate upto 12.5 kg per hectare and remove the shoot fly damaged seedlings at the time of thinning in case of direct sowing or raise nursery and transplant only healthy seedlings.
5. Plough soon after the harvest, remove and destroy the stubbles.

B. Mechanical method 

1. Set up light traps till mid night to monitor, attract and kill adults of stemborer, grain midge and earhead caterpillars.
2. Set up sex pheromone trap at 12/ha to attract male moths Helicoverpa sp. from flowering to grain hardening.
3. Set up the TNAU low cost fishmeal traps @ 12/ha till the crop is 30 days old. 

C. Biological methods: Take up two applications of NPV at 10 days interval at 250 LE/ha along with crude sugar 2.5 kg + cotton seed kernel powder 250 g on the ear heads to reduce the larval population of Helicoverpa sp.

D. Chemical methods 

1. Use seeds pelleted with insecticides.
2.   Arpocarb fishmeal formulation is more effective in attracting the shoot fly adults especially the females.