The shoot gall psylla, a serious pest of mango, found in the Terai region, particularly in Uttarakhand, north Bihar and West Bengal, is gravely affecting production. The pest causes the formation of hard conical green shoot galls in place of buds, which directly interfere with formation of inflorescence, thus adversely affecting the production, say researchers.
The yield of the heavily infected trees plummet to 40-50 kg against a normal yield of 250-300 kg. As per rough estimate more than 20,000 hectare area has been badly affected with the incidence of shoot gall psylla in Uttarakhand, including Dehradun.
For the last one decade, the infestation of shoot gall psylla has increased considerably in Uttarakhand particularly, in Dehradun, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Almora, Pithoragarh, Champawat, Tehri and Pauri districts of the State.
The increasing incidences of shoot gall psylla and poor results of earlier recommended pesticides have drawn attention of Dr SS Singh, Entomology and Head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dehradun. He approached ICAR-Central Institute of Sub-Tropical Horticulture, lucknow for effective management of shoot gall psylla involving mango.
The Institute suggested that Thiamethoxam 1 gpl (gram per litre) of water + Profenophos 2 ml per liter of water + Sticker 1 ml per liter of water effectively manages shoot gall psylla. He conducted demonstrations with the help of farmers along with earlier recommended insecticides in which two spray of Thiamethoxam 1 g per liter of water + Profenophos 2 ml per liter of water + Sticker 1 ml per liter of water has been able to reduce the incidence of shoot gall psylla up to 90 per cent in the most affected orchard.
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dehradun, which is working under the Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar intervened by mobilising the farmers. The campaign is meant to develop confidence among the mango growers from Dehradun, they say.
The impact of above insecticides applied by the farmers in their mango orchard on the recommendation of Dr SS Singh resulted in changing the mindset of farmers of Dehradun region whose faith and interest were dwindling towards mango cultivation year after year and were in impression that this devastating pest could have not been controlled, say those involved in the anti-pest campaign.