Insect Pests of Vegetable, Tuber and Spice Crops

Cabbage head borer

6. Cabbage head borer, Hellula undalis (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera)

Distribution: Japan, Taiwan, India.

Host range: Serious pest of all cruciferous crops.

Damage:

• Damage is caused by the caterpillars.
• Caterpillars first mine into leaves and feed on the chlorophyll
• Later on feed on the leaf surface sheltered within the silken passage.
• As they grow bigger they bore into the heads of cabbage and cauliflower.
• When the attack is heavy, the plants are riddled with caterpillars

Identification:

• Caterpillars: Creamy yellow with a pinkish tinge and has seven purplish brown longitudinal stripes.
• Moths are slender, pale yellowish-brown, having grey wavy lines on the fore wings. Hind wings are pale dusky.

Life cycle:

• Eggs hatch in 2-4 days
• Caterpillars become full fed in 6-18 days
• Pupal period is 4-19 days
• Adult longevity is 3-8 days (female) and 2-6 days (males).
• 12 generations from April to November.

Salient features:

• Active throughout the year but more active during autumn.
• Females lay pinkish and oval eggs singly or in clusters on the under surface of the leaf.
• Five larval instars
• Full grown larva spins a cocoon among the leaves for pupation.
• Each female can lay 28-214 eggs

Management:

• Monitoring of pest at seedling or early growth stage.
• Collection and destruction of early stage caterpillars
• Indian mustard as trap crop
• Bt products
• Some cauliflower lines like Early Kumari, 78-1S, 234-S, Sel.916 and Sel.1012 were resistant to this pest (Brar et al., 1993).
• The pest can also be controlled by spraying the crop with malathion @ 0.1 per cent.