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Sci Tech
Pollu beetle menace in pepper
Leaf beetle is commonly called as pollu beetle is a serious pest of pepper in India occurring regularly in pepper plantations. It attacks all varieties of pepper.Both the adults and grubs cause damage by boring into ripening berries making them hollow. Further they feed on growing shoot tips and the tender spikes.
Infested berries
When the grubs bore into the shoot tips the terminal part of the vine dries up or even drops down.
Infested berries appear dark, hallow inside and crumble when pressed which is locally said to be pollu berries. They berries will also exhibit split exit holes. It causes 30 to 40 per cent loss in the yield of pepper.
Pest Biology
These blue coloured tiny flea beetles with stout hind legs make shallow holes on the berries and lay 1 to 2 eggs in each hole.
Yellowish grubs hatch in a week period and start feeding the berries for 40 to 45 days. Each grub destroys at least 3 to 4 berries during the larval period.
Then they drop to the ground for pupation. Adults emerge in 6 to 7 days. The total life cycle takes 39 to 50 days.
Management practices
— Cultivation of pepper at higher elevations of 3000-4500 feet above mean sea level would be ideal.
— Resistant varieties to pollu beetle may be selected and planted.
— Tillage of soil should be done to expose the pupae and grubs to the natural environment for destruction.
— Eliminate over shaded condition by pruning branches of shade trees before the onset of monsoon.
— Soil application of 1.3 per cent lindane dust at 10kg/ac. will also be useful.
— Spray two rounds of endosulfan, methyl parathion or quinalphos during June-July and the second round during September-October.
— Neem based formulations could be applied as safer chemical during August, September and October.
J. Jayaraj & S. Balakrishnan
Horticultural Research Station, Thadiyankudisai
Perumparai, Dindigul
Tamil Nadu
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