Webinar ppt of Locust attack - a threat to agriculture by Ajay Prasad Chaudhary

1. OUR CULTURE “AGRICULTURE”
Presents
“Locust Attack-A Threat to Agriculture”
Presented By:
AJAY PRASAD CHAUDHARY
(B.Sc Ag, 4th Year) – SHUATS, Allahabad
Email : ajayprasadchaudhary@gmail.com
Mobile : +917704802859 (Whatsapp)

2. Locust – What is it?
• Locusts are the major agricultural pests of the world.
• Out of 5000 different species of grasshoppers, those which can live
in two different phases viz. solitary & gregarious phase are called
locusts.
“ All Locusts are Grasshoppers but all Grasshoppers can’t be called as
Locust”
• Locusts are the short-horned grasshoppers with highly migratory
habit, marked polymorphism and voracious feeding behavior.
• They are indeed the sleeping giants that can flare up any time to
inflict heavy damage to the crops leading to national emergency of
food andfodder.

3. How Locust differs from Grass hopper?
-Long Horned and Big Hind Legs
- -In Cropped Area
-No Phase changing
-No Gregarious Phase
-No Hopper Band/Adult Swarm
-No Long distance Migration
-
-
-Short Horned and Short Hind Legs
-In Breeding in Desert /CroppedArea
-Phase changing
-Phase change occur:
-Solitary : Non Breeding area-
Gregarious- in breeding area/Invasion area Phase
-Hopper Band/Adult Swarm formed
-Long distance Migration-100-5000km
Grass hopper Locust

4. Phylum: Arthopoda
Class : Insecta
Order: Orthopotera
family: Acrididae
Taxonomy of Locust
Identification of Locust
• Large size insect.
• Body length from 35-50 mm for males & 45-55
mm for females.
• Wings are colorless and exceeding clearly the
abdominal extremity.
• The color can vary but is usually green, brown,
yellowish-green or grey.
• The mandibles are dark purple to black.
Mandibles

5. Species of Locusts
There are 10 important species of locusts in the world.
S. No. English Name Scientific Name
1. The Desert Locust (Most Dangerous) Schistocerca gregaria
2. The Bombay Locust Nomadacris succincta
3. The Migratory Locust Locusta migratoria manilensis; Locusta
migratoria migratoria-oides
4. The Italian Locust Calliptamus italicus
5. The Moroccan Locust Dociostaurus morocannus
6. The Red Locust Nomadacris septemfaciata
7. The Brown Locust Locustana pardalina
8. The South American Locust Schistocerca paranensis
9. The Australian Locust Chortoicetes termenifera
10. The Tree Locust Anacridium Spp.

6. Four important spp. of Locusts found in South Asia

7. Locust Phase
Solitary Gregarious
✓ Nymph : Color varies according to
surrounding vegetation.
✓ Adult : Greenish grey throughout life.
✓ Behave independently.
✓ Repelled from other locusts.
✓ Walk slowly with creeping.
✓ Active mostly at night.
✓ Diet restricted.
✓ Nymph : Yellow or Pink with distinct Black Markings
✓ Adult : Pink on emergence, Gradually turn grey finally
yellow when sexually mature when numbers rise, they
become gregarious and migrate in dense groups
✓ Behave as coheshive unit
✓ Affected to non specific
✓ Walk rapidly
✓ Active mostly at day
✓ Diet broad

9. LOCUST-TRANSFORMATION

10. Eggs
•Eggs are yellowish brown in color and 7-
8 mm long
• 1-3 egg pods per female with an average
of 60-80 per pod.
• Egg pod is large, slightly bent, 50-85 mm
in length, 7-10 mm in diameter
Egg Pod

11. Nymph
▪ An immature locust is called a nymph or hopper
▪ Miniature to adults but wingless
▪ Lighter in color than adult
Adult
• Large size about 45–60 mm in length
• Green or brown in the solitary form
• Straw-colored in gregarious form
• Hind wings have no markings.
• Adult flight is strong and steady
Solitary
Gregarious

12. Nmphal Instars
Hopper Appearance
1st Instar Newly hatched are white but turns black in 1-2 hrs
2nd Instar Head is larger & pale colour pattern is
conspicuous.
3rd Instar
Two pairs of wing buds projects on each side of thorax
4th Instar
Colour is conspicuously black and yellow.
5th Instar
Colour is bright yellow with black pattern.
Six weeks or one week per instar

13. Solitarious and Gregarious Adult Locust
Solitarious Locust Gregarious Locust
Fledgling
Sexually maturedMatured adult
➢Found in breeding ground
➢Shy –Brown coloured
➢Try to keep distance from other
Locust
➢Do not form swarm/band
➢Fly short distance at Night
➢And Tend to change behaviour
➢As well as appearance-black
spots on hind femur
❖Colour pattern and behaviour changed
❖Nymphs-Form large groups-Hopper bands
❖Adults-Form Large swarm
❖Fledgling: Pink, Voracious feeder, older-
Dark red/Brown; Long flier
❖Sexually matured: Yellow colour
❖Fly at Day time 2-3 hrs after sunrise till
1-2 hr after sun set
❖Rest at night on trees
❖Cannibalistic in shortage of food

14. “Incomplete metamorphosis”
▪ Female lays eggs in a hole in damp, warm or
sandy soil called a Pod usually at a depth of 2-10
cm.
▪ Each pod contain 60-80 pale yellow
banana- shaped eggs 5-6 mm long.
▪ Covers the eggs with frothy liquid to protects
from enemies, dehydration and contamination.
Life Cycle

15. ▪ Collection of egg pods laid by a number of
locusts is termed as Egg Bed.
▪ Egg beds may vary from a few square
meters to several hundred square meters
and scattered throughout a region.
▪ Eggs hatch in 14-20 days
▪ Afterwards the nymphs move by crawling or hopping along the
ground as they have no wings.
▪ 5 nymphal instars and nymphs take 4-8 weeks to complete
development

16. Adult is the final stage
• Locusts at this level have fully pledged wings and can fly without problem.
• Adults appear from June to early July.
• 2-4 weeks after fledging, mating start and
females start laying eggs 2-3 weeks later
(usually at the end of July).
• Lifespan of adult is almost eight weeks.
• Overwinter in the form of eggs.

17. Life Cycle of Locust

18. Breeding Season of Desert Locust
• In all, there are three breeding seasons for
locusts
(i) Winter breeding [November to December],
(ii) Spring breeding [January to June] and
(iii) Summer breeding [July to October].
Mature gregarious adults copulating
Stage Weeks Comments
Egg (laying –
hatching)
2 10-15 cm under
the surface in
sandy/Loamy
sand soil
Hopper
(hatching –
fledging)
6
5-6
instars:
one
week/ins
tar
Adult
(fledgling –
egg laying)
4 Fledgling:
Immature-
Pink/Red;
Mature→Yello
w

19. Solitary Female
Oviposition
Lays 3-4 times
Each pod-95-150 eggs
Eggs laid in moist
sandy/Loamy sand
soil At a depth of
10-15 cm in foamy
pouch
Lays 2-3 pods at an interval of 7-10 days
Each pod may have-60-80 eggs
Total eggs- 150 to 240/female
Total eggs- 600-800/female (2-3 pods-60-80eggs/pod)
(3-4 pods- 150-200 eggs/pod)
Egg field: 1000 egg pods/sq.meter
Gregarious Female

20. LOCUST-BREEDING LOCUST-TRANSITION
LOCUST-FEMUR

21. Climate Change - Cause of Locust Attack
• Studies have Linked a hotter climate due to global warming to more damaging locust Swarms.
• These abnormal rains were caused by the Indian ocean dipole, phenomenon accentuated by
climate change.

22. •Guaiacol is produced in the gut of desert locusts by the breakdown of plant material. This process is undertaken by the gut
bacterium Pantoea agglomeran.
•Guaiacol is one of the main components of the pheromone that cause locust swarming (Dillon, Road et all, 2000)
•Serotinin enhances solitariness phase transition of migratory locust(Guao et al 2013)
•Gregarious adults (swarms) migrate in the direction of the wind at the wind speed and can cover distance of up to about
150km/day.
• The direction and speed of the wind determine the displacement of adults and swarms (Burrows et al., 2011)
What triggers to form Swarm
Source :LWO

23. Desert Locust Swarm
• Size of Swarm: < 1 Sq. km- tolarge swarm Several
Hundred Sq. km
• 1 Sq. km Swarm→40-80
• million Locusts
• Consume food = own body
• weight/day
• Swarm of 40 million Locusts :Consume food/day
• • = food of 35000 people
• =(2.3 kg/day/human)
• •= food of 10 Elephants/day
• An adult desert locust can eat its own weight
in food every day - about 2g

24. 35,000
20
6
A 1 km2 in 1 daDesert Locust
swarm eats the same food y as ...
1,100 =
Locust Damages : Threat To Agriculture
=

25. LOCUST PLAGUES
✓Swarms or bands remained in many
countries for periods lasting several years
called plagues causing great damage to
crops.
✓Duration of plague lasts for 5-10 yrs
and recession period 1-8 years.
✓Both swarms and bands rest on crops and
trees at night, morning they hop and fly to form
a swarm when temperature rise.
✓They are voracious feeders; feed
on any vegetation often causing
famine.
✓ Calotropis, Datura spp. are not fed by locusts
Locust plagues observed during following
years
1812-1821 1900-1907
1843-1844 1912-1920
1863-1867 1926-1930
1869-1873 1940-1946
1876-1881 1949-1955
1889-1891 1959-1962

26. 0 2 6 12 16 months
• The magnitude of the damage and loss caused bythe locusts is very gigantic beyondimagination.
• Locust do cause damage by devouring theleaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growingpoints
• Also breaking down trees because of theirweight when they settle down inmasses.

27. Desert Locust Risk Map –FAO(May 2020)

28. :Latest Desert Locust Situation and Forecast

29. Latest Desert Locust Situation and Forecast
Nepal

30. Photo: LWO

32. LOCUST : Management and Control
Cultural control
•Ploughing, digging and harrowing of
places where eggs are laid on large scale
and destroying-laborious.
Mechanical control
•Collecting hoppers with catching machine.
•Killing tem with flame-throwers.
•Crushing them with rollers.
•Loud Noise to chase them from field

33. Natural enemies
•Rose-colored and common starlings
(Pastor roseus and Sturnus vulgaris)
•Blister beetle, Ground beetle and
Crickets are eggs predators.
•Flesh flies, Tachinid flies, and Tangled
veined flies are nymph and adult
parasitoids.

34. Chemical Control
❖The adult beetles can successfully be controlled by treating the trees
with the following insecticides :
a) Carcaryl 0.1%
b) Monocrotophos 0.05%
c) Chloropyriphos 0.05%
❖The grubs may be controlled by the soil application of following
insecticides :
a) Phorate 10 g @ 25 kg/hac.
b) Ekalux 5 g @ 25 kg/hac.
c) Carbofuron 3 g @ 35 kg/hac.
d) Oftanal 10 g @ 25 kg/hac.
❖The sprinkling of Chloropyriphos 20 EC @ 5 lit/hac offers of
economic and effective control of grubs.
❖Spraying the crop with Neem seed kernel powder suspension (1%) found
to be very promising.
❖Aerial Spraying of insecticides and Pesticides
The locusts killed by the drone
in Samode, Jaipur district on
Sunday(31/5/2020)

35. Insecticide Application Equipments
Hand held ULV Sprayer
Knapsak SprayersJeep Mounted ULV Sprayer
Pesticide Application Equipments Aerial Sprayer

36. Tractor Mounted Sprayers

37. Aerial Spraying Equipments
Bttery Operated Drones
Fixed Wing Plane Agri Copter for Aerial Spraying

38. Live study of Feeding nature of Locust-
By ( OUR CULTURE “AGRICULTURE”) Team

39. Slogan For Locust
Locust Says :
” Don’t Show me any vegetation Green,
Otherwise Our Attack will make it Clean ”

40. Lets Put our Hands Together
“ Save Farmers, Save Agriculture”
Let the Locust Pandemic Ends Soon.
“Some may be Reel life Hero
Some May be Real Life Hero
But Farmers are Genuine Live Heros ”
Thank You
For Your Kind Attention