PESTS OF GROUNDNUT :: Major Pests :: White Grub

13.  White grub : Holotrichia consanguinea (Melalonthidae: Coleoptera)

Damage symptoms: Growth of plant is retarded.  Plants wilt or die.  Roots partially or fully eaten off by white and fleshy grubs.

Bionomics: The dark brown adult beetles reenter the soil to hide and lay eggs. Female lays 20 - 80 white, roundish eggs in clusters. Egg period 9 - 11 days. Grubs are white and translucent. Pupates in soil and remain as pupae until the following year. The adult beetles emerge with the first monsoon showers.

Management

1. Plough deep at the time of land preparation to expose grub and kill. 
2. Adopt crop rotation with rice in irrigated endemic areas to bring down grub damage.
3. Ensure adequate irrigation to irrigated groundnut in endemic areas since the grub attacks roots under inadequate soil moisture condition.
4. Set up light traps or bonfires to attract and kill the adults on receipt of summer showers.
5. Apply malathion or endosulfan or carbaryl dust @ 25 kg per ha in the soil prior to sowing during last ploughing. 
6. Repeat the same on 40 DAS and incorporate in the soil during earthing up.