The ecology and management of cutworms in India
2022
Chandel, Ravinder S. | Verma, Kuldeep S. | Rana, Abhishek | Sanjta, Suman | Badiyala, Aditi | Vashisth, Sumit | Rahul Kumar, | Baloda, Arjun S.
Cutworms are cosmopolitan pests that attack several crops. A total of 26 species are known to occur in India, of which the most preponderant species are Agrotis ipsilon, Agrotis flammatra and Agrotis segetum. The biology of these three species has been studied and they are known to complete their life cycle in 35 to 77 days. The larvae of A. ipsilon and A. flammatra are slightly longer as compared to those of A. segetum. The cutworms cause most damage at the seedling stage; early attempts to control cutworms should focus on cultural control. The important parasitoids of A. ipsilon and A. segetum are Macrocentrus collaris, Periscepsia carbonaria and Cotesia ruficrus. As cutworms hide in the soil during the day, poison baits can serve as effective control measure. Efficient chemical control can be achieved by properly applying chemicals when young caterpillars are still on the leaves and therefore vulnerable. Entomopathogenic nematodes like Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora hold considerable potential to control cutworms, but their effectiveness is related to soil moisture.
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