Insect Pests of Fruit, Plantation, Medicinal & Aromatic Crops (2+1)

1. Lime or Orange tree borer

1. Lime or Orange tree borer - Cheledonium cinctum Guer and C.alcamene Thoms. (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera)

Damage

• The grub bores into stem and feeds on the internal tissues, which resulted in drying of terminal shoots in early stages, followed by wilting of thicker branches and main stem.





Bionomics

• The adult is dull metallic green to dark violet with a yellow band across the middle of the elytra and in 2.5-3cm long.
• It lays eggs at an angle of twigs or thorns and covers by a resinous fluid secretion.
• A single female can lay up to 30-50 eggs.
• The incubation period is 11-72 days.
• The grub is creamy white with flat head.
• It pupates in the tunnel for about three weeks.
• The life cycle is completed in one year.
• The adult beetle emerges during April and May and remains within the pupal chamber for a long time.
Management

• Prune the infested branches containing grubs.
• Plug the fresh holes with cotton soaked in monocrotophos solution mixed at 5 ml / 20 ml of water.
• Follow the padding with monocrotophos 2.5 ml +2.5 inl of water.
• Check multiplication of borers by keeping orchard clean and drench soil around tree with chlorpyriphos 20 EC 5 ml /1.
• Prune and destroy damaged branches containing grubs before they enter trunk.
• Swab trunks with carbaryl 50 WP at 20 g/1 to avoid egg laying.
• Collect and kill eggs and grubs from barks and bore holes.
• Inject 10 ml of monocrotophos 36 WSC or kerosene, petrol, carbon disulphide or chloroform plus creosote (2:10) in live bore holes and plug with wet clay.
• Spray monocrotophos or dimethoate 0.03 % /1 in case on infestation on leaves by adult beetles.
• Alternate hosts in the nearby vicinity like jamun, guava, litchi, pomegranate, neem, or kapok should also be treated.
• Encourage activity of natural enemies, Syrphus spp. and Coccinella septumpunctata