PESTS OF PULSES - RED GRAM & CHICKPEA :: Major Pests :: Stem Fly

9.  Stem fly: Ophiomyia phaseoli (Agromyzidae: Diptera)

Distribution and status: India, Sri Lanka, Laos, New South Wales Philippines, Burma, East Indies, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, Fiji, Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Samoa.

Host range: Red gram, bean, cowpea, soybean and lima bean 

Damage symptoms: Drooping of the tender leaves and yellowing characterize serious damage of young plants.  The sites where maggot and pupae are present become swollen and start ribbing. Older plants show stunting but are not usually killed.

Bionomics: The adult is a small black fly. A female lays 38-79 eggs singly on pods or on flower buds.  The egg period lasts about 3 days.  The maggot first makes galleries just below the epidermis of the seed feeding deeper into the seeds later. Larval period lasts for 5-6 days.  The larva pupates in the larval groove for 8-9 days.

Management

1. Conserve natural enemies like Euderus lividus, Eurytoma sp., Euderus agromyzae
2. Seed pelleting with chlorpyriphos @ 4 ml/kg of seed may reduce stem fly.
3. Spray any one of contact insecticide in the early stages of the attack. Carbaryl 50 WP 1.5 kg or endosulfan 35 EC 1.25 L in 700 L water per ha