The invasive Rugose Spiralling Whitefly (RSW) seems to be showing its presence in the State with its incidence being reported in different districts.
According to information, a high incidence (more than 30 spirals for leaflet) is reported in East and West Godavari and Nellore districts.
The RSW has invaded crops such as coconut, oil palm, cocoa, banana, curry leaf, jackfruit, papaya, yam, and mango.
It has also invaded ornamental plants such as bird of paradise, fishtail palm, spider lily, areca palm, cabbage tree, rose apple, and heliconia.
The whitefly has devoured the palm oil and coconut plantations in East and West Godavari, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, and Visakhapatnam districts. The extent of damage is yet to be assessed.
Officials of the Horticulture Department are taking steps to check the pest by adopting bio-control methods.
“The problem has been brought to the notice of the State government,” says M.V.S. Nagi Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Mission Vice-Chairman.
Field experiments
“Various management strategies such as use of Isaria fumosorosea (NBAIR Pfu-5) have been adopted. The results are encouraging. Field experiments have been conducted in association with the National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR- ICAR), Bengaluru, at Madavaraidupalem in East Godavari and Kalavalapalli in West Godavari districts. The results have revealed that I. fumosorosea has reduced egg hatching of RSW. However, during high temperatures ( > 350 C), there is a comparatively lower suppression of eggs,” says N.B.V. Chalapathi Rao, Head of the Horticultural Research Station (HRS) at Amabajipeta and Principal Scientist (Horticulture).
“Good results with I. fumosorosea can be obtained if spraying is carried out at 10 to 15 days interval with high jet sprayers when there are no high temperatures. Spraying operations should be initiated early in the season as and when RSW population is observed, as it can have more impact and can reduce and arrest the RSW population build-up,” he says.
The RSW was first reported at Kadiyam in East Godavari district in the nursery gardens during late December 2016.
As many as 319 villages in East and West Godavari, Krishna, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts were affected during 2019 and 2020.
About 10,226 hectares of coconut plantations and 11,744 hectares oil palm plantations were affected during these years.
With the RSW incidence being reported again, the farmers fear that the yield is likely to come down by about 20%.
As part of the measures to control its spread, the government has been supplying Isaria fumosorosea, a bio-pesticide, to the farmers through the Horticulture Department.
