Insect pest of ber

1. SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:
DR. TEJPAL SINGH BISHT ANSHIKA
SINGH
B.Sc. Horticulture
V Sem
INSECT-PESTS OF BER

2. BER
 COMMON NAME: Ber
 SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ziziphus mauritiana
 FAMILY: Rhamnaceae
 CHROMOSOME NO. : 2n= 48
 TYPE OF FRUIT: Drupe
 EDIBLE PART: Epicarp and Mesocarp

3. MAJOR INSECT-PESTS OF
BER
 Ber Fruit fly
 Ber Fruit borer
 Ber Butterfly
 Termite
 Ber Stone Weevil
 Lac Insect
 Bark Eating Caterpillar

4. 1. Ber fruit fly (Carpomyia
vesuviana)

5.  Nature of Damage:
 The maggots start infestation with the onset of fruit setting.
 The fly lays eggs singly in the young developing fruits.
 After 2 to 5 days the newly hatched maggot’s starts feeding
on the pulp and make galleries with accumulated excreta
and result in rotting of fruits.
 The larva burrow the flesh round the centre leaving excreta
that give fruits a bitter taste.
 In arid region, the infestation starts from end of September
and the higher incidence is during December-January.

6.  Control Measures:
 Incorporate lindane 1.3 % or chlorphyriphos 0.4 % dust 40 kg / hectare to the soil under
the tree or near the trees to reduce the fruit fly incidence.
 Cultivate fruit fly resistant varieties such as Safeda Illaichi, Chinese, Sanaur-1, Tikadi
and Umran.
 Collect and destroy fallen and infested fruits by dumping in a pit and covering with a
thick layer of soil or incorporate lindane 1.3 D 30 g/tree.
 Use methyl eugenol lure trap (25/ha) to monitor and kill adults of fruit flies or prepare
methyl engenol and malathion 50 EC mixture at 1:1 ratio and take 10 ml mixture/trap.
 Use polythene bags fish meal trap with 5 g of wet fish meal + one ml dichlorvos soaked
in cotton at 50 traps / ha. Fish meal and dichlorvos soaked cotton should be renewed once
in 20 and 7 d respectively.
 Use bait spray combining molasses or jaggery 10 g/ 1 and one of the insecticides,
fenthion 100 EC 1 ml/1, malathion 50 EC 2 ml/1, dimethoate 30 EC 1 ml/1, carbaryl 50
WP 4g/1, two rounds at fortnight interval before ripening of the fruits.
 Spray malathion 50 EC 2 ml/1 or dimethoate 30 EC 2 ml/1 or dichlorvos 0.1% at the
time of flower formation and fruit set.

7. 2. Ber fruit borer (Meridarchis
scyrodes)
 Nature of Damage:
 The larva bores into the fruit feeding on the pulp and
accumulating faecal frass within.
 Up to 40% of the fruits are damaged during July and
August.

8.  Control measures:
 Collect and destroy damaged fruits.
 Spray malathion 2 ml/1 or dimethoate 1.5 ml /1 at the
time of fruit set, two rounds at 15 days interval.

9. 3. Ber butterfly (Tarucus
theophrastus)

10.  Nature of Damage:
 The ber trees are always severely pruned during May-June
and the newly sprouting tender shoots and leaves are
attacked by ber butterfly.
 Due to its attack, the leaves dry up and tender shoots do not
grow properly.
 Larvae feed on sprouting tender shoots, leaves and flower
buds. Infested leaves gives whitish look due to feeding of
chlorophyll and finally the leaves remain with long streaks.
 Control Measures:
 Remove the infested leaves from the plant.

11. 4. Termite (Odontotermes
obesus)

12.  Nature of damage:
 Termites attack wheat and barley from the time of sowing
onwards and the damage is severe in sandy and sandy-loam soils.
 lt cannot thrive under conditions of bad aeration and poor
drainage.
 The damage may vary from 40 - 50%.
 The internal part of plants are eaten away up to 1-2 feet height of
stem and filled with earth.
 Termites also appear and cause havoc in orchards that have been
raised on virgin lands.
 The damage is more severe in nurseries and young newly planted
orchards where the entire seedlings or saplings may dry and die
away.

13.  Control Measures:
 Cultural control:
 Regular field monitoring & use sweep net in the morning
hrs for monitoring of pest & defender population, barrier
crops like mustard crop around the field.
 Grow attractant plants like French bean
 Plant tall border crops like maize, sorghum or millet to
reduce pest population.
 Biological control:
 Follow common biological practices.
 Plant tall border crops such as maize, sorghum etc. as
barrier crops

14. 5. Ber stone weevil (Aubeus
himalayanus)

15.  Nature of Damage:
 When damaged fruits are cut open, the developing
seed is completely eaten away by the pest.
 In the hollowed area, each of these fruits have a grub, a
pupa or an adult which is identified as ber seed weevil.
 The infested fruits are round in shape and varied in
size ranging from pea to pebble.
 The fruits do not attain maturity and never increase in
size more than pebble.

16.  Control Measures:
 The pest feeds only on the seed portion of developing fruits
and arrest further development of attacked fruit.
 The entry hole is healed up and closed while the exit hole
can be clearly seen.
 Collection and destruction of adult weevil immediately
after detection can also reduce the population. Infested
dropped fruits should be collected and burned to break the
generation cycle.
 Application of spinosad 2.5 SC found to give significant
reduction in weevil incidence and indoxacarb 14.5 EC,
NSKE 5% and azadirachtin 2000 and 1000 ppm also found
to be superior over control treatment in minimizing the
weevil incidence.

17. 6. Lac Insect:
Kerria (=Laccifer ) lacca Kerr.
 Nature of Damage:
 Both nymphs and adults desap
the twigs.
 Control Measures:
 Collect and burn affected branches
after pruning
 Spray methyl demeton
25 EC 1 ml/1.

18. 7. Bark eating caterpillar
(Indarbela quadrinotata)

19. Nature of Damage:
 The freshly hatched larvae feed on the surface of tree trunks.
 It makes winding galleries of frassy web on the stem near the
forks and angles of branches.
 When strong enough, they bore inside the trunks and move about
inside the concealed silken gallery and feed on the bark by
scraping which interrupts the translocation of cell sap and
adversely affecting growth and fruit setting capacity of the tree.
 Ribbon like or pipe like webbings on the stem near forks or
angles of branches and the tree trunk is the clear indication of its
damage.
 The caterpillar is hidden-in the stem in the day-time and
becomes active at night, eating the bark.
 Heavy infestation by this pest stunts the trees and adversely
affects fruit yield.

20.  Control Measures:
 Remove frassy galleries and paint the bark.
 Application of the solution, made up by mixing 1 lit of
kerosene and 100 g soap in 9 lit of water to the holes
effectively controls the bark eating caterpillar.
 Alternatively, each hole should be filled with a
solution of 2 ml monocrotophos or 20 ml trichlorphon
50 EC or 30 ml endosulfan 35 EC in 10 L of water and
then the holes closed with mud.

21. REFERENCES
 Book: Fruit Growing
by DR. J.S. BAL
Ph.D. (Hort.)
Kalyani Publishers
 ecourses.icar.gov.in
 vikaspedia.in

22. THANK YOU