Scientific Name: Helianthus annus

Family: Asteraceae

Capitulum borer (Head borer): Helicoverpa armigera Bihar hairy caterpillar: Spilosoma obliqua Tobacco caterpillar : Spodoptera litura Leaf hopper (jassids): Amrasca biguttula biguttula Parakeet: Psittacula kramer i

Symptoms of damage

• The larva feeds on the developing seeds and bore the head.
• Fungal developed and head starts rotting.
• The larva consumes leaf in early stage of growth and move towards the capitulum and tunnel the head.

Identification of the pest

• Eggs: Spherical in shape and creamy white in colour, laid singly
• Larva: Shows colour variation from greenish to brown. It has dark brown grey lines on the body with lateral white lines and also has dark and pale bands.
• Pupa: Brown in colour, occurs in soil, leaf, pod and crop debris

Adult

• Light pale brownish yellow stout moth.
• Forewings are olive green to pale brown with a dark brown circular spot in the centre.
• Hind wings are pale smoky white with a broad blackish outer margin.

Management

• Grow inter crops like, green gram, black gram, groundnut, soybean.
• Sow 3- 4 lines of maize (or) jowar around the sunflower crop to monitor the moth.
• Sow trap crops like marigold at 50 plants/acre.
• Use of pheromone traps (4 traps/acre) for pest intensity identification as well as to trap the male moths.
• Setting of light traps (1 light trap/5 acre) to know the range of pest incidence as well as to kill moth population.
• Release predators like coccinellids, Chrysoperla carnea @ 1 larva/ head.
• Release parasitoides like Trichogramma spp. @ (20,000/acre), Bracon spp., Campoletis spp.
• Spray HaNPV 250 LE + Bt @0.5kg/ha for effective control.
• Spray HaNPV 250 LE/ha + 1 kg Jaggery + 200ml Sandovit (or) Teepal; mixing and spray in the evening hours only.
• Spraying of 5% Neem oil or 5% Neem Seed Kernal extract before egg laying.
• Spray quinalphos 3m/lit of water or profenophos 2m/lit of water or chlorphyriphos 2.5m/lit of water.

• Young larvae feed gregariously mostly on the under surface of the leaves.
• Caterpillars feed on leaves and in severe infestation the whole crop is defoliated.
• Drying up of infected leaves is the main symptom

• Eggs : Laid in cluster on the underside of leaves.
• Larva: Covered with long yellowish to black hairs

• Medium sized brown moth with a red abdomen.
• Wings pinkish with numerous black spots.

• Deep summer ploughing.
• Use of well rotten manures.
• Intercropping with pigeon pea at a row ratio of 2:1 is effective in reducing the insect attack.
• Collection and destruction of larvae.
• Spray phosalone 35 EC at 1000ml/ha.

• The larvae feed on the tender leaves, shoots, bracts and petals.
• Later, the larvae spread in the field causing defoliation.
• The larvae also feeds on the developing seeds in capitulum.

• Egg: Egg masses appear golden brown.
• Larva: Pale greenish with dark markings. Gregarious in the early stages

• Forewings : Brown colour with wavy white marking
• Hind wings : White colour with a brown patch along the margin

• Hand pick the Helicoverpa larvae and destroy.

Spray any of the following insecticides :

• Dichlorvos 76EC 500 ml/ha
• Phosalone 35 EC 1000 ml/ha

Dust any one of the following :

• Phosalone 4 D 25 kg/ha
• Insecticidal application at the time of bee visit is toxic to honey bees. So, apply the insecticides after 4 pm when the bee activity is minimum.
• Do not spray insecticides on the same day when NAA is sprayed

• The adult and nymphs suck the plant sap.
• The infected leaves show pale yellow colouration.
• In case of heavy infestation the leaves turn inwards.
• The leaf edges may turn light pinkish brown.

I dentification of the pest

• Nymphs - Pale greenish almost translucent and walk diagonally.
• Adults - Greenish yellow, wedge shaped with a pair of black spots on vertex and a black spot on each of the forewings

• Treat seed with imidacloprid 70 WS at 7 g/kg protected the sunflower plants from leaf hopper upto 7 weeks.
• Spray Imidacloprid 70% WS 490 ml/ha
• Imidacloprid 17.8%SL 100 ml/ha

• The birds damage starts from the milky stage and continues till harvest.
• These consumes on an average of 152 seeds/day.

• It is slim, green parakeet with the typical short, heavy, deeply hooked, red bill. Hollow space in a tree trunk is the nest of the bid

• Establishment of scare crows in the field so as to distract the birds.
• Bursting of crackers and carbide guns, tying polythene bags.
• Use of bird scaring tape (reflective ribbon or bird scaring ribbon).
• Using bio-acoustic method like pre-recorded distress calls to distract the birds.
• Destruction of bird nest in and around the field.
• Deploy two labourers per hectare to scare away the birds.
• Pruning of perching and breeding places
• Spraying of neem kernal powder solution at 10 g/litre of water after seed shedding repels the birds.
• Use of bird proof nets.