Sucking Pests of Sugarcane

Abstract

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is one of the most important cash-cum-industrial crops and is the second sugar producing crop of the world. Pests of sugarcane crop in India are classified on the basis of their nature like borers, sucking pests, subterranean pests and non-insect pests as well as geographical distributions, i.e. tropical and subtropical appearance. More than 200 species of insect and non-insect pests are reported in sugarcane crop in different parts of India which are economically important. Borers and sucking pests are the major aerial pests, whereas termites and white grubs are mainly found in the subterranean region. Shoot borers are found throughout the country. In order of non-insect pest category, rats are largely found in drip irrigated farm, while yellow mite is frequently observed in tropical region farm. Drought in extreme summer is favourable for the growth of shoot borer, termites, black bug and mite. The sugarcane crop gets affected by pests in two distinct stages in crop age, one is up to 4 months, pest like early shoot, top, root and stalk borers attack the crop during this stage. The second stage is after 4 months Pyrilla, woolly aphid, sugarcane aphid, whitefly, scale insect, mealybug, white grub and mite attacks during this stage of the crop. In this chapter focus has been given on sucking insect pests of sugarcane crop.