DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

GS-III : Economic Issues Agriculture

28 September, 2022
4 Min Read

White Fly

White Fly

White fly attacks on cotton have increased recently in a number of states, including Punjab and Rajasthan.

What are the facts regarding the white fly?

By eating on the underside of the leaf and dispersing illnesses like Cotton Leaf Curl Virus, whiteflies are a significant pest of cotton that reduce output.
They consume the leaf sap and exude fluid onto the leaves, where a black fungus develops. This weakens the plant by interfering with photosynthesis, the process by which it produces food.
Spread: The first invasive spiralling whitefly to be identified, Aleurodicus dispersus, is now found all over India.
The rugose spiralling whitefly (Aleurodicus rugioperculatus), which was first discovered in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, in 2016, has similarly expanded across the entire nation.
Over 320 and 40 plant species, respectively, have been recorded to harbour Aleurodicus dispersus and Aleurodicus rugioperculatus.
The majority of the whitefly species are indigenous to Central America or the Caribbean.

Causes of Spread:

The ability of all invasive whiteflies to eat on a variety of foods and their prodigious breeding have led to an expansion in their host range (produces a large number offsprings).
Growing plant imports, globalisation, and human migration have facilitated the spread of various types and their eventual development into invasive species.

What other insects or pests are harming crops?

Attack by the Fall Armyworm (FAW)

Due of its inherent capacity for dissemination and the chances provided by international trade, it is a harmful transboundary bug with a high potential to expand rapidly.
In the northern Dhemaji region of Assam, the Directorate of Agriculture reported an armyworm attack on the standing crops in 2020.

Locust

A locust is a huge, primarily tropical grasshopper with strong flight abilities (also known as a migratory bug or tiddi). They vary from common grasshoppers in that they may alter their behaviour (gregarize) and group together in swarms that can travel great distances.

Adult locusts may consume roughly two grammes of fresh plants day, or their own weight, in food. A very small swarm can destroy crops and pose a serious danger to food security by consuming the equivalent of 35,000 people's worth of food in one day.

PBW, or pink boltworm:

Its scientific name is Pectinophora gossypiella, and it is a problem insect in cotton production.
Although it is native to Asia, the pink bollworm has spread to most of the cotton-growing countries of the world.

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