Survey and Surveillance of Sugarcane Insect Pests in Andhra Pradesh

Roving surveys were conducted in sugarcane fields both in plant and ratoon crops under certain sugar factory operational areas of Coastal Andhra Pradesh during 2004–07 with an objective to develop survey schedule for recommending control measures and to determine the spatial pattern and intensity of different sugarcane pests in Andhra Pradesh. Among the various insect and non-insect pests, early shoot borer, internode borer, scale insect and mealybugs can be considered as key pests, while whitefly, Pyrilla, woolly aphid, red mite, yellow mite, white grub, termites and grasshoppers as localized pests. The incidence of internode borer could be avoided by managing the population density of early shoot borer in the early stages of the crop growth as both the species in Coastal Andhra Pradesh remains same i.e., Chilo infuscatellus Snellen. The surveillance can be conducted in the months of March to May for early shoot borer, mealy bugs and red mite; in June to August for grass hopper, internode borer and yellow mite; in June to October for grasshoppers, root grub, scale insect, termites, whitefly and woolly aphid. The simple and multiple regression equations worked out for duration of key sugarcane insect pests with respect to their developmental stages were proved to be the best predictors.