Original paper

Sticky bands as effective tools to manage looper pests (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in tea crops

Prasad, Anjali Km.; Roy, Somnath; Neave, Suzanne; Sarma, Ankur Jyoti; Phukan, Pranjal Jyoti; Rahman, Azizur; Muraleedharan, Narayanannair; Mukhopadhyay, Ananda

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Entomologia Generalis Volume 39 Number 3-4 (2019), p. 347 - 351

published: Dec 23, 2019
published online: Dec 9, 2019
manuscript accepted: Apr 17, 2019
manuscript revision requested: Mar 11, 2019
manuscript received: Jul 30, 2018

DOI: 10.1127/entomologia/2019/0735

BibTeX file

ArtNo. ESP146003903016, Price: 29.00 €

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Abstract

Looper stages of geometrid moths such as Biston suppressaria, Hyposidra talaca and H. infixaria are among the most destructive pests of tea in the Himalayan foothills and plains of northeast India. Geometrid moths typically lay their eggs in cracks of rough barked shade-trees in tea plantations. In a novel approach to disrupt egg laying and prevent neonate loopers from migrating upward to the canopy, trunks of shade trees were partially covered with bands of polythene sheets covered with a sticky material called “Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesive”. The efficacy of this method was compared with another control method, light trapping, in terms of number of geometrid moth catches. The results of the capture experiments showed contrasting sex-bias: The light traps caught significantly more males than females in two experimental locations, whereas the opposite trend was observed for the sticky traps. Cost calculations show that employing sticky band traps compared to light traps is more cost effective. The sticky band traps are also more practical to adopt, and do not require power supply or trap structures. This study demonstrates that sticky band traps are effective eco-friendly device for management of looper pest in tea plantations, particularly when compared with the other physical methods of light trapping. However, the combination of both sticky band traps and light traps could strengthen plant protection under IPM program, hence help preventing population built-up of loopers, especially in bio-organic tea plantations.

Keywords

Tea loopers • Moths • Light traps • Sticky traps • IPM • Geometrid pest