B.Sc (Hons) Ag 3rd year

1. Lecture no. 11
INSECT PESTS OF ONION & GARLIC
R.K. Panse
Asstt. Prof. (Entomology)
Subject: Pests of crop and stored grain and their Management

2. Onion thrips: Thrips tabaci
Thripdiae:Thysanoptera
Distribution
South east and central Europe, Russia, India,
Java, Japan, Australia, Hawaii,Mexico and Canada
Host range:
Onion, Tobacco, Garlic, Turnip, Radish, Ash gourd, Pumpkin, Cucumber, Cabbage,
Brinjal, Cotton, Tea, Sunflower, Pear, Alfalfa, Pea, Pine apple, Chillies, Tomato and
Grape vine
Biology
Egg period:10-15 days
Eggs inserted into the tender leaves
Nymphal: 4-6 days
Yellow in colour
Pupal: 3 days
Pupation: soil
Adult:
Yellow in colour
TLC: 25-28 days

3.  These are minute organisms. The adult measures only 1
mm in length.
 The body of adult is yellowish-brown in colour, with
slender thorax and abdomen. Abdomen tapers posterior.
 Female bears full wings but in male the wings are extremely
reduced or absent.
 Wings are narrow, consisting of stiff portion bearing a
fringe of hairs.
 The legs are adapted for running.
 Each leg terminates in two jointed tarsus and a peculiar
vesicle or bladder without claws.
IDENTIFICATION

4. Adu
eggs
Fig:- nymph
Fig:- adult
Fig:- Egg
Fig:- pupa

5. NATURE AND DAMAGE:-
 The adult thrips and their nymphs lacerate the surface
tissues of the foliage.
 They puncture the leaves and stem of the host plant
and suck the exuding sap.
 In the initial phase of attack by this pest the leaves
show spotted appearance and later on whitish blotches
appears due to drainage of leave sap.
 The tip of the leaf gets distorted and falls.

6. Management
Resistant varieties: White persian, Grano, Sweet spanish and Crystal wa
Neem coated urea to reduce the infestation of pest
Sky blue colour sticky traps to attract more adults than yellow colour
traps
Insecticides: Monocrotophos 36 SL @ 1 ml/ lit or dimethoate 30 EC @
1 ml/ lit with teepol 0.5 ml/ lit

7. Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Scientific name: Agrotis ipsilon
 Host Range: Cereal, Pulses, Grasses
Cutworm

8. Marks of Identification
EGGS: Yellowishwhite
 LARV
AE : Dark grey incolour
ADULT:
 Heavy bodied
 Grayish-brown or wheatcolour

9. LIFE CYCLE
 The pest is active from October to April
 The moths appear in October and lay upto 900 eggs on the
under surface of leaves, shoots, steams or in soil.
 The eggs hatch in one week during summer and in two weeks
during winter
 LARVAE Full grown in 4 to 7 weeks
 PUPATE for two weeks in the soil.
 The life cycle is completed in 7-11 weeks
 There are generally two Generations in year

10. Nature of Damage
 The caterpillars come out from their breeding places at night
and become active.
 Cutting down the young plant of gram, vegetables seedlings
etc.
 Just above or slightly below the surface of soil.
 The cutaway gram seedlings in the field are indication of its
attack

11. CONTROL
ETL: 2 larvae /meter row
Cultural control:
Hand hoeing
Clean cultivation should be done
The bait is placed in small heap in the infested field in evening
Mechanical control:
Trapping the moths by light traps
Hand picking
Biological Control:
The Pest Is Control By Insect Predators
Chemical Control:
Spray CYPERMETHRIN+MONOCROTOPHOS EC 500ml/Acre
It Is Also Control By Using Poisoned BRAN MASH

12. OTHER PESTS
Cut worm: Spodoptera litura, Noctuidae: Lepidotpera
Black cut worm: Agrotis ipsilon, Noctuidae: Lepidotpera
Gram pod borer: Helicoverpa armigera, Noctuidae: Lepidotpera