Maize stalk borer (Busseola fasicola, Noctuidae, Lepidioptera)
Damaging stage : larvae
Damaging symptoms: dead heart , white ear
Identification
- Egg : creamy
- Larva: head is dark brown and yellowish brown in prothorax , larvae lack hair or marking
- Pupa: inside the stalk
- Adult: forewing are light to dark brown with darker hind wings are white to gray brown .
Management
- Collect and destroy (egg ,larvae , pupa and adult )
- Install light trap
- Push pull strategy push – desmodium , pull – napier grass / elephant grass
- Egg parasitoid : trichogramma chilonis
- Larval parasitoid : cotesia flaviceps (braconidae) ,
- dentichasmia busseolae(ichneumonidae)
- Conserve spider , mired , damsel fly , water bug
- Bacillus thuringenesis based formulation such as dipel or biolep@3g/l
- Apply chloropyrifos 20% Ec @2ml/l