Chilli Thrips
Scientific Name: Scirtothrips dorsalis
Order: Thysanoptera
Family: Thripidae
Host range: Can infest more than 150 crops worldwide, (at least 40 plant families) including strawberries, cotton, tea, citrus, and peppers as well as many ornamental plants.
Identification & Damage Nature:
- The adults are creamy white in color measuring upto 1.2mm and have fringed wings & have lacerating (rasping and sucking) mouthpart.
- These are highly polyphagous pest and attack on new growth & young plants.
- Both nymph and adult are damaging where they lacerate the leaf tissue with their mandible and feed the sap.
- These pest are found to transmit different viral leaf curl diseases.
Biology:
- The adult female lays eggs inside the leaf tissue on the upper surface of leaf with the help of sharp ovipositor, singly or in group of 3-5 eggs with egg period of 1 weeks.
- The female can lay on an average of 40 eggs during her lifetime.
- Nymph have 3 instar where the first two instar completed in 6-8 days & the third instar, also known as prepupa have period of 1 day.
- Nymph goes into pupal phase that last for 2-3 days.
- This insect is intermediate between hemimetabolous and holometabolous, so nymph + pupa are seen.
Management:
- Use of predatory mites (Euseius sojanensis), and thrips (Franklinothrips vespiformis).
- Use of UV mulch, adjustment of planting time, crop rotation with legumes.
- Use of resistant varieties (Pant C1, Pant C2, Dh-7-6-6, Jwala, Musalwadi, K-3435, and IC 24343).
- Spraying insecticidal soap have been found to be effective.
- Spray cow urine and neem plant extract with the help of sprayer to repel the thrips.
- Use of safe insecticide in IPM
- Malathion 50%EC@500ml/ha
- Imidacloprid17SL@6ml/ha