The shoot gall psylla is a very serious pest of mango in Tarai region of India, North Bihar and West Bengal. The pest causes the formation of hard conical green shoot galls in place of buds which directly interferes with formation of inflorescence, thus adversely affecting the production. Heavily infested trees yield only 40-50 kg of fruits against a normal yield of 250-300 kg from a healthy tree. According to an estimate, over 15,000 ha area is badly affected with incidence of shoot gall psylla in Uttarakhand, including Dehradun, which causes economic loss worth Rs 70-80 crores per annum. Over the past one decade, the infestation of shoot gall psylla has increased in Uttarakhand particularly Dehradun, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Almora, Pithoragarh, Champawat, Tehri Garhwal and Pauri districts.
The increasing incidence of shoot gall psylla and poor results of earlier recommended insecticides have drawn the specialist and Professor, Entomology & Head, KVK, Dehradun Dr SS Singh’s attention. Since July, 2013 he started his campaign of educating the farmers. In fact, high incidence of shoot gall psylla from the last one decade and its adverse effect on productivity had totally changed the mindset of the farmers, he said. He also observed during campaign that the main reason of high incidence of shoot gall psylla was lack of knowledge/ awareness about the effective insecticides among mango growers. Subsequently, he took intervention for effective management of shoot gall psylla in mango. He appealed to the farmers to use insecticides i.e. Thiamethoxam 1 g per liter of water + Profenophos 2 ml per liter of water + Sticker 1 ml per liter of water against shoot gall psylla in mango orchards. Before recommending the above insecticides, their evaluation and assessment against shoot gall psylla in mango was carried out along with earlier recommended insecticides in which recommended insecticides proved to be most effective against the pest. The first spraying of these insecticides is done in the 3rd week of August while the second spraying of same insecticides is repeated in 1st week of September. The spraying of insecticides should be done during clear weather.
During August-September 2013, farmers applied above insecticides in 21 ha area at Badwala village of Dehradun which reduced the infestation of shoot gall psylla up to 95 per cent. Farmers harvested about 200-250 kg mango fruits from a tree in June-August, 2014. The impact reflected in Badwala village due to management of shoot gall psylla encouraged other farmers due to which the area under management of shoot gall psylla increased from 21 ha during 2013 to 2200 ha during 2017 in various parts of Dehradun. The impact was also reflected in Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Haridwar and Saharanpur district of UP. The sincere efforts made over the last four years brought more than 80 per cent orchards under management of shoot gall psylla in Dehradun.
The productivity of mango increased from 9.6 MT/ha to 20.0 MT/ha. The visible impact reflected due to technological intervention on management of shoot gall psylla at Badwala village on 2100 mango trees during August-September, 2013 completely changed the mindset of neighboring farmers. Effective management of shoot gall psylla in mango from 2013 to2017 doubled the production and income of farmers. Data recorded from the orchard and interaction held with the farmers reveled that more than 11.0 crore additional income was earned by the farmers of Dehradun district due to management of shoot gall psylla from the last four years.
The dedicated efforts of Singh and his team have given tremendous impact on the farmers to save their orchards from the menace. The impact of above insecticides applied in orchard on the recommendation of Singh resulted in changing the mindset of farmers of Dehradun whose faith and interest were dwindling towards mango cultivation year after year and were under the impression that this devastating pest could have not been controlled. In fact, farmers had lost their hopes and were thinking that there is no solution to manage this pest but interventions taken by Singh and his team have restored their faith and now happiness brought back on their face due to management of this most destructive pest.