Management of mung bean pests
MUNG BEAN (legume variety) is prone to infestation by a number of insect pests. The following insects are some of major pests of mung bean, which cause considerable yield loss.
White fly
Whitefly transmits mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV), which is a serious disease of the crop.
Heavily infected crop exhibits a sickly black appearance . Females lay single eggs on the underside of the leaves.
On emergence, the nymphs start feeding on the cell sap and pupate within 9-14 days. The pupae change into whiteflies in 2-8 days.
Red hairy caterpillar
Moths appear usually with the first shower of the monsoon. They are nocturnal and lay eggs in clusters of 700-850 each on the under surface of the leaves of the host plants.
The caterpillars on emerging start feeding on the tender leaves and suck the cell sap.
They enter the soiland weave earthen cocoons to pupate and remain in that stage, till they emerge from the cocoons the subsequent year.
The adults as well as the nymphs of Green jassid cause damage to the crop. Adults are about 3 mm long, greenish-yellow in colour during the summer, acquiring a reddish tinge in the winter.
Injury to the plant is due to the loss of sap and probably also due to the injection of toxins.
Infested leaves turn pale and then rust-red in colour.
Control measures
— Pheromone traps and light traps are effective to control the pest.
— Summer ploughing destroys the eggs of gram cutworm, grasshopper and pupae of red hairy caterpillar.
— Mungbean, intercropped with sorghum or bajra, decreases the incidence of jassids.
— Setting up of yellow sticky trap reduces the incidence of white fly.
— Digging trenches around the infested field controls the gram cut worm.
— The sucking pest can be controlled spraying by dimethoate 0.03 per cent, metasystox 0.025 per cent and monocrotophos 0.04 per cent.
B. Raja
IARI Regional Station,
Karnal
& T.V.K. Singh
College of Agriculture, Hyderabad
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