The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Imphal has sounded alert over the detection of invasive pest “fall armyworm” in the state.
The ICAR in an official statement informed that the pest, which is native to the Americas, was detected in Lamphel and Langol Research farm of council, Manipur Centre.
It further informed that Chandonpokpi village in Chandel district is now under severe threat by this pest.
In India, the pest was detected for the first time in Karnataka in 2018 and rapidly spread to other parts of the country.
By January 2019, Chattisgarh was the last state to report the pest. In May 2019 it was reported from northeastern states such as Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and was also detected in Manipur.
“Its rapid spread is due to the female moth being a strong flier capable of flying 100 km in a night and being an exotic insect, the absence of natural enemies that could keep them under check. Another factor is, its natural environment is the tropical and sub-tropical parts of America that is similar to the environmental conditions in India”, said the ICAR statement.
Stating that Manipur is a biodiversity hotspot with many rare and threatened flora, the state is more vulnerable, ICAR appealed the farmers to take precautionary measures.
* Remove weeds around the crop field
* Manual destruction of egg masses and caterpillar
* Set up pheromone traps @ 4/ha for monitoring and 10/ha for mass trapping of adult insect
* Spray any of the insecticide
* Green Racer (Beauveria bassiana) @ 3-5ml/litre of water. After 5-7 days of application spray Green Pacer (Metarhizium anisoplae) @ 3-5 ml/ litre of wate
* Spray Dimethoate 30% EC @ 1ml/litre of wate
* Spray ATIRA/CROPDON/TEGATA/ALIKA (Thiamethoxam 12.6% + Lambda cyhalothri 9.5%ZC) @ 2.5ml/10 litres of wate
* Do not use spray mixtures or tank mixture (mixing of two or more than two different chemica insecticides).
Written by Jimmy Leivon, Imphal