Scirpophaga incertulus

Pest Identification:

• The forewing of the female YSB moth is ochreous yellow to whitish with a black spot in the middle. It has a wingspan of 24-36 mm.

• Its abdomen is wide anal tufts are pale ochreous.

• The adult male is smaller than female.

• The forewings are gray or light brown in color and have two rows of black spots at the tip.

• Sometimes the males are whitish yellow and spots on the forewing are not very clear.

• Variation in the intensity of colour in the forewing and the size of the moth has also been observed.
   

Damage:

• Egg are laid on the underside of the leaves, freshly hatched larvae move downwards to leaf sheath and feed on inner tissue, With the advancement of growth and development larvae bore into stem and feed on inner surface.

• Due to such feeding at vegetative stage the central leaf whorl unfold, turns brown and dries up which is termed as Dead Hearth.

• Infestation after the panicle initiation result in drying of panicle which may not emerges at all and those that have already emerges do not produce grain and appears as white head.
   

Control Measures:

• APS Funnel traps with APS SCIRPO-I Lure at 5-8nos per acre for monitoring.
   

​Pheromone Lure Details