This document summarizes several major insect pests that affect wheat crops, including the pink borer (Sesamia inferens). It describes the pink borer's life cycle, feeding behavior, and damage caused. The pest breeds actively from March to November, with moths laying eggs on wheat leaves. Hatched caterpillars bore into plant stems, causing 'dead hearts' that can kill young plants or reduce grain production in older plants. Management strategies include removing crop residue, flooding fields, clipping seedling tips, using parasitic wasps, and applying pesticides when dead heart infestations exceed 5%.

1. INSECT PESTS OF Wheat
R. Regmi
Assistant Professor
Department of entomology

2. INSECTS PESTS OF WHEAT
Different insect pests attacking wheat are as follows:
• Pink borer, Sesamia inferens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
• Wireworm, Agriotes sp (Coleoptera: Elateridae)
• Armyworm, Mythimna separata (Lepidoptera:
Noctuidae)
• Aphids, Rhopalosiphum maidids, Schizaphis
graminnum, and Microsiphium acanae (Homoptera:
Aphididae)
• Grasshopper, Atractomorpha crenulata, Oxya
adanata, chrotogonus sp( Orthoptera: Acrididae)
• Termite, Microtermes obsi, Odontotermes obsesus
(Isoptera: Termitidae)

3. Aphid Armyworm Grasshopper
Pink borer Termite

4. Pink borer, Sesamia inferens
(Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
• The pink borer is polyphagous insect.
• It feeds on wheat, finger millet, rice, sugarcane,
maize, sorghoum.
• The damage is caused by the caterpillars which
are pinkish brown and have a smooth
cylindrical body, measuring about 25mm.
• The moth are straw coloured and have stout
body.

6. Life cycle:
• The pest breeds actively from March- April to November on rice
and then migrates to the wheat crop.
• The moth are nocturnal and lay eggs on leaves or on the ground.
• The egg hatch in 6-8 days and young caterpillar bore into the
epidermal layers of the leaf sheath.
• Later on, they bore into the stem as a result of which the growing
shoot dries up producing dead hearts.
• When the attacked plants die, the larva move onto adjoining plants.
• They are full fed in 3-4 weeks and pupate inside the stem or in
between the stem and leaves.
• The pupal stage last about a week and the life cycle is completed in
6-7 weeks.
• There are 4-5 generations of the pest in a year.

8. Damage:
• The attacked young plants shows dead hearts
and are killed together.
• The older plants are not killed, but they
produce a few grains only.

9. Management:
• The removal and destruction of stubble at the time of
the first ploughing after harvesting the crop.
• Ploughing and flooding the field is also effective in
killing the larvae
• Clipping of tips of seedling before transplanting can
reduce the carryover of eggs to the field
• Use trichocard with 50,000-1,00,000 trichogramma
per ha
• The field showing more than 5% dead hearts should
be sprayed with 875 ml triazophos 40 EC or 2.5 liters of
chlorpyriphos 20EC in 250 liter of water per ha.