Una, July 20:- To protect maize, the agriculture department has the Coragen insecticide available in all development blocks. First spray of Coragen should be done in the maize leaf whorl ten days after sowing. Spray should be done in the early hours of the morning or in the evening and the spray nozzle should be kept towards the leaf whorl in which the larvae usually feed. Repeat the spray after 18-22 days of sowing.
Giving this information, Deputy Director of Agriculture Department, Dr. Kulbhushan Dhiman said that the Kharif maize crop is witnessing a high infestation of Fall Army Worm. If it is highly infested, it can cause heavy damage to the crop in a single night. The adult female moth of this insect lays eggs on the leaves and stems of the plants. The female lays 50-200 eggs at a time. These eggs hatch in 3-4 days and the larvae that emerge from them remain in this state for 14-22 days. It is difficult to identify the insect larvae till the third stage of its life cycle, but it can be easily identified in the fourth stage.
Dr. Dhiman said that in the fourth stage, a white mark in the shape of an inverted 'Y' letter is visible on the head of the larva. Its larva eats the leaves of the plants by scraping them, due to which white stripes appear on the leaves. As the larva grows, it eats the upper leaves of the plants and later enters the cobs of the plants to get its food.
The Deputy Director said that this insect is a multi-crop eater, which damages more than 80 crops. If the Fall Army Worm insect is not identified and controlled in time, then in the coming time there can be huge destruction in maize and other crops. The larval stage is harmful for the crop. But for complete control of the insect, it is necessary to destroy every stage of its life. He told the farmers to plow the land deeply, so that the larval stage or pupa of the insect gets buried deep in the soil.
Apart from this, he said that for more information, subject matter expert Ramesh Lal in development block Amb, mobile number 9418004250, Satpal Dhiman in development block Bangana, mobile number 9418160124, Navdeep Koondel in development block Gagret, mobile number 8219170865, Lekhraj Sandhu in development block Haroli, mobile number 9816206687 and Pyaro Devi in ??development block Una, mobile number 8628945916 can be contacted.