PESTS OF SUNFLOWER :: Major Pests :: Capitulum Borer

2.  Capitulum borer – Helicoverpa armigera (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera)

Damage symptoms: Larva feeds on leaves and capitulum.

Bionomics: Adult moth is greenish to brown with a ‘V’ shaped speck on forewings and dull black border on the hind wings.  Eggs are laid on the host plants singly.  The egg period is 7 days.  Fully grown larva is 2” long, greenish with dark brown grey lines and dark and pale bands.  It shows colour variation from greenish to brown. The larval duration is 14 days.  It pupates in soil for 10 days.

Management

1. Install bird perches @ 50/ha
2. Set up light trap to monitor, attract and kill the moths.
3. Set up pheromone traps @ 12 Nos./ha.
4. Inundative release of egg parasitoid Trichogramma spp. and egg larval parasitoid Chelonous blackburnii.
5. Spray nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) @ 500 LE/ha in 0.1 % teepol.
6. Spray NSKE 5% twice followed by triazophos 0.05%.
7. Apply any one of the insecticides at 25 kg/ha.  Endosulfan 4D quinolphos 4D, carbaryl 5D.
8. Spray endosulfan 35 EC 1.25 l or monocrotophos 1.0 L or chlorpyriphos 1.25 L/ha.