SS 2 Second Term Agricultural Science Lesson Note – Pests of Crops Continued

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TOPIC:            PESTS OF CROPS CONTINUED

CONTENT: 1. Other Important Pests (Non-insect pests) and Nature of Damages of Crop Pests

2. Broad outline of the biology of selected insect pests
3. Economic Importance, Preventive and control measures

SUB TOPIC 1. OTHER IMPORTANT PESTS AND NATURE OF DAMAGES OF CROP PESTS

The non-insect pests include:

• Birds
• Rodents
• Nematodes
• Snails

 BIRDS: Many kinds of birds feed on planted crops. They attack crops like fruits, grains, oil palm while on the field e.g., the weaver birds called Quela bird feed on millet, sorghum and rice. They eat the developing seeds and cause great losses on crops. Francolin feed on tuber crops like cassava, yam, cocoyam and grain crop. Parrots also eat lots of fruits such as mango and cocoa. Weaver birds cause defoliation to oil palm leaves, reducing photosynthetic activities of the crops.

 RODENTS: These are mammalian pests which damage crops like young oil palm trees, vegetables, yam, cassava, rice and sugar-cane. Examples are rats, monkeys, giant rats, bats, squirrel, grass cutter and antelope. Squirrels and monkeys eat cocoa pods; bats eat lots of fruits like oranges and mangoes. Ground squirrel eats or digs out and eats newly planted seeds. Grass cutter cuts and eat cereals, cassava, sugar cane and young oil palms. Rats eat and destroy stored produce like grains and tubers.

 NEMATODES: These are species of worm present in the soil. From the soil, they enter into the root of crops like tomatoes and okra where they cause the root to grow swellings called root knots. When this happens the plants have stunted growth and reduced yield

SNAILS: They are serious pests and they feed on leaves and reduce their photosynthetic ability, yield and quality of vegetables.

NATURE OF DAMAGE TO CROPS

The nature of damage by some selected crop pests are shown in the table below

 

Insect Pests	Crops attacked	Nature of damage	Prevention/Control Measures
Stem Borers (Busseola fusca)	Rice, maize, guinea corn	Larvae bore holes into stems; eat up plant tissues; weaken the plants	Uproot and burn infected plants; use of insecticides & practice crop rotation
Army worm (Spodoptera spp)	Maize, sorghum, cowpea	Larvae invade and eat up leaves; reduce photosynthetic activities; reduced growth	Hand picking and spraying with insecticide
Pod borers (Maruca vitrata)	Cowpea, ground nut and soybean	Larvae bore into the pods; seeds are eaten up; introduced disease and webbing of pods together	Practice of crop rotation; use of insecticide like cypermethrin; timely harvesting
Aphid (Aphis craccivora)	Cowpea and soybean	Cause gall on leaves and transmit virus disease	Uproot and burn infected plants; use of insecticides
Leaf beetles (Ootheca mutabilis	Cowpea and soybean	Defoliate crops; reduce photosynthesis and yield	Plant resistant varieties and use of insecticides
Cocoa mirids (Distantiella theobroma)	Cocoa	Attack young shoot and inject toxic saliva into plant; transmit fungal diseases; cause stunted growth and reduced yield	Regular weeding; farm hygiene; use of insecticides
Scale insect (Planococcus citri)	Cocoa, kola and coffee	Feed on cell content; cause premature fruit fall and transmit viral diseases	Spray with insecticide

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