• It is paradoxical that tobacco, which yields nicotine-a very effective botanical insecticide, suffers from damage by many insect pests right from sowing to storage.
• This is because of either selective feeding in phloem as in aphids or efficient excretory mechanism as in tobacco horn worm or capacity to metabolise nicotine to non-toxic non-nicotine, continine and other alkaloids.
• The ants carry away the seeds from the nursery beds, earthworms damage tiny seedlings by uprooting them and covering them with the soil.
• Caterpillars of various types including borers and grass-hoppers invade the nurseries as well as the fields.
• The ground beetles cut the young transplants causing gaps in the fields, aphids infest plants in the growth stage and suck juice from the leaves, and by secreting honey-dew on which shooty mould develops, makes the leaves unfit for curing.
• Capsule borers attack capsules and sometimes also climb down to feed on leaves.
• Apart from these, there are other pests such as crickets, white flies, thrips and stink bugs which cause damage.
• On the stored tobacco, cigarette beetle commonly known as cigarette weevil is a major pest.

Order : Lepidoptera
Family : Noctuidae

• Apart from tobacco, the capsule-borer damages many low-growing plants like pulses, maize, tomato, linseed, cotton, etc.

• Female lays dull-white eggs singly on tender shoots and inflorescence.
• The eggs hatch in 3-4 days. The caterpillars fully grow within 20-40 days and measure 3-5 cm in length.
• The caterpillar are greenish or pale-brown in colour with broken dark-brown stripes along the body.
• When young, it is generally green. It pupates in soil, within 17-24 days the adult moth comes out.
• The total life-cycle is completed in 43-63 days.

• After December, particularly after heavy rains, heavy infestation develops and around 10-20 larvae can be seen on a plant.
• The caterpillars bore the capsules and destory the seeds.
• When the infestation is heavy they come down and feed on the leaves also.

• Monitoring the pest from four weeks after transplanting by pheromone traps/light traps.
• Growing chickpea / Nicotiana rustica as ovipositional trap crop around tobacco.
• Topping the inflorescence helps to bring down the incidence considerably.
• NPV @ 250 LE in 1125 L of water/ha Bacillus thuringensis var. Kurstaki @ 1.5 kg in 1125 l of water/ha
• Monocrotophos 40% EC @ 30 ml
• Fenvalerate 20% EC @ 10 ml
• Endosulfan @ 20 ml/10 lit water

Order : Coleoptera
Family : Ptinidae

• The cigarette beetle, L. serricorne F. also commonly known as cigarette weevil, it is a serious pest of stored tobacco.
• It is associated with tobacco after it is cured. It attacks the principal types of cigarette, cigar, chewing and snuff tobaccos as well as most forms of manufactured tobaccos.
• In the flue-cured tobacco, the beetle prefers bright grades over medium or low grades.
• The beetle is cosmopolitan in distribution. It is more common in countries of tropics and near tropics.

• This beetle is a small dark brown insect about 2-3 mm in length. A single female lays between 14-104 eggs in the folds and midribs of tobacco. The type of tobacco affects the oviposition also.
• Cigarette beetle lays more eggs in flue-cured tobacco than in Lanka tobacco. Ability of cigarette beetle to grow on stored tobacco depends upon.

1. 1. Nicotine content
2. 2. Adequacy of nutrients

• The beetle is a strong flier and readily flies half a mile and under favourable conditions it may fly even more than a mile.
• The flight is generally from 7 p.m. to mid-night. In the godowns the flight activity takes place throughout the year.
• The beetle population is least in April, starts increasing in August and reaches peak in October, September to November is the most destructive period.
• The degree of infestation depends upon the temperature, relative humidity type and grade of tobacco and other conditions in storage.

• The larvae feed on the leaves making large galleries and when the infestation is heavy turn the leaf into powder. The damage occurs in the following ways.
• Shortage in tobacco by quantity actually consumed by the larvae.
• Holes cut in the high-grade tobacco reduces its quality
• Lowering the value of tobacco is by way of mixing the waste material such as dead bodies, dust and refuse.
• Loss of good will as customer may turn away after once buying infested tobacco.

• Keep the godown and surroundings clean by removing tobacco bits and dust to avoid breeding of the pest. Cover doors and windows with wire mesh (20 mesh screen to 2.54 cm) to prevent entry to beetles into the godown.
• Redry FCV tobacco at 77° C, spray the godown with malathion 50 EC @ 20 ml/10 l of water before storing of tobacco as prophylactic treatment. Store tobacco at 16-18° C in the warehouse.
• Fumigate heavily infested tobacco with aluminium phosphate tablets @ 1 tablet/1 cu.m for 96 hours exposure and then 72 hours aeration with trained persons.
• Treat the tobacco with insect growth regulator methroprene @ 10 ppm. Treat the tobacco seed with malathion 50% EC @ 1 litre per 1 tonne of seed for protecting it from cigarette beetle.

Acrida exultata , Cyrtacanthacris tartarica, Atractomorpha cranulata.

Order : Orthoptera
Family : Acrididae

• These green or greyish insects with cryptic colouration remain in grass or weeds around nurseries or main fields.

• Cut holes in the leaves

• Keep the nursery area clean, free of weeds and grass
• Spray the surrounding vegetation with endosulfan 35% EC @ 30 ml in 22 lits of water or dust the area with endosulfan 4% dust @ 40 kg/ha.

Order : Homoptera
Family : Aphididae

• Aphids are pinkish to brown or green, small insects infesting the planted crops.
• If the infestation is heavy, hundreds of them can be seen on the underside of the leaves.
• Apart from tobacco, they also infest potatos, crucifers, peach etc.
• Among different tobaccos, Lanka and Natu tobacco are highly susceptible and subjected to heavy aphid infestation every year. It has become a serious problem on FCV and chewing tobacco also.

• Both apterous (wingless) and alatae (winged) forms pass through 4-5 nymphal instars in their development and the nymphal period ranges from 5-7 days.
• Both the forms mate within a day or two after the final moult and start reproducing young ones.
• The apterous forms produce significantly more number of young ones than alate but their life-period is shorter than that of alate.
• In the field generally viviparous apterous forms are observed in large number.
• The winged forms are black or reddish with transparent wings.
• They are responsible for spreading the infestation from plant to plant and establish new colonies.
• Incidence of aphids depends upon the time of setting in of winter. Generally they appear by the end of November or first week of December, multiplying and reaching peak from December and to first week of January. This period is a critical period for tobacco plant, because it is during this period that the plant puts up its maximum growth and leaves get ready for priming.
• From January end or first week of February, they start declining due to rise in temperature.

• In addition to their being vector for various diseases, such as, rosette or bunchy top, the damage caused by aphids is two-fold.
• By constant sucking of the sap through their tiny sucking mouth parts.
• By making the plants pale, sickly and thereby retard the growth of plants.

• Spray any one of the following
• Systemic insecticides in 500 lits of water / ha
• Methyldemeton 25 EC 500 ml/ha
• Dimethoate 30% EC 500 ml/ha
• Thiometon 25 EC 500 ml/ha
• The first spray is to be given soon after the symptoms are noticed and subsequent sprays at 10-15 days interval, as per need.

Mesomorphus villiger, Seleron latipes, Opatroides frater

Order : Coleoptera
Family : Tenebrionidae

• The egg and pupal periods are of only 2-10 days duration.
• The larval and adult periods are long, being 30 to 150 and 2 to 190 days respectively.
• The total life period varies from 61 to 280 days.
• The female lays from 1 to 100 white oval eggs singly on the surface of the soil, under grass weeds near moist area. Within a week they hatch and white grubs come out. The grubs feed on the organic matter.
• A full-grown grub is about 25 mm in length and 1.2 mm in diameter. Nearing pupation, the grubs become sluggish and slimy to touch, go into the soil at the depth of 15 to 30 cm and pupate.
• The adult emerges out within a week. Eggs and larvae mainly occur in October-December, pupae only in December-May.

• These grey-black insects inhabiting soil generally feed on organic matter though tender tobacco transplants hold some special attraction for them.
• When the seedlings are transplanted they invade the fields from surrounding bunds and attack them.
• The beetles attack freshly transplanted seedlings. When the cut is deep the seedlings die causing gaps in the field.
• In some years the damage is so heavy and replanting becomes necessary.

• It is enough to protect the transplants for 4 weeks as by that time the plants establish, stems get hardened and thus the beetles are unable to cause any damage.
• Use endosulfan 35% EC @ 14 ml or chlorpyrifos 20% EC @ 16 ml in 10 litres of water @ 75 ml solution per plant in planting hole.
• Pongamia cake is safe to handle and does not leave any residue in the soil. Powder the cake and mix in the fine sand. Apply 5 g of cake powder mixed in handful of sand (20-25g) at the base of seedling immediately after transplanting. For treating one acre, 30 kg of Pongamia is sufficient.
• The efficiency of Pongamia cake is improved when 2 g of rice bran, an attractant, is added to it. Apart from controlling beetles the cake has some manurial value also helps the transplants to grow better.
• Keeping heaps of grass in between crop rows after sprinkling water on the soil at a distance of 6 m apart to attract the beetles and dusting with 5% carbaryl @ 10 kg/ha next day offers good control.

Order : Lepidoptera
Family : Noctuidae

• Commonly known as tobacco caterpillar or tobacco cutworm. It is the worst enemy of tobacco nurseries, sometimes causes damage in the main field also.
• It enjoys wide distribution and besides India, it is present in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, China and Fiji.
• It is extremely polyphagous and is known to feed on lucerne, potato, castor, cabbage and cauliflower besides tobacco.

• The adult lives for 8-10 days. Pairing takes place within 1 to 2 days after emergence, generally in the early morning or after dusk.
• A single female can lay on an average 2000 eggs.
• As they grow, the caterpillar starts spreading out in the seedbeds. Before growing fully, the caterpillars pass through 5 growth stages (instars).
• The pupae are brown during early period but lateron before emergence of adult moths they become dark brown or often black. It takes between 20-30 days to complete caterpillar stage and become pupa. In about 7-14 days the moths emerge from pupae. The entire life history is completed in 30 to 50 days.

• When the seedlings are small the caterpillars cut the seedlings.
• They voraciously feed on the leaves when the seedlings are grown up.
• Third and fouth instar larvae are particularly voracious feeders and if no control measures are taken entire seedbeds will be defoliated within a week.

• Monitor moth emergence by keeping 12 sex specific pheromone traps (pherodine, litlure)
• Collection of egg masses and destroy them
• Hand picking the caterpillars and destroying them.
• Spray any one of the following in 10 litres of water

• Spray NPV 100 LE + Neem Seed Kernel extract 5% (50 g / litre)

Order : Lepidoptera
Family : Gelechiidae

• The tobacco stem-borer is an important pest in many parts of India especially in FCV tobacco and Natu tobacco in Andhra Pradesh, FCV tobacco in Karnataka, bidi tobacco in Gujarat and chewing tobacco in Tamil Nadu.
• The pest is reported from various countries such as Malaya, Indonesia, Australia, New Guinea, Philippines.

• In bidi tobacco, the female moth lays cylindrical eggs singly more on the upper surface than on lower and prefers laying towards the distal half of the upper surface and basal half of the lower surface.
• A female, on an average, lays 50-80 eggs. In 4 days, egg hatch and the tiny caterpillars mine along the leaf stalk into the stem and feed on the internal tissues.
• In 15-22 days, the larvae fully grow and pupate. The full grown larva is pale white in colour, with head and thorax dark brown. When the larva is about to pupate it forms an exit tunnel in the gall.
• The tunnel is so prepared that a thin membrane of stem tissue remains intact, which can be easily broken by the emerging adult. The adults after emergence survive for 2-14 days.
• The total life cycle extends over 4-5 weeks.

• Larvae bore inside the stem to form a swelling. It causes stunting and unusual branching of the seedlings.

• Stem borer affected seedlings should be pulled out and destroyed.
• In tobacco nurseries when stem borer is a serious problem, spray Quinalphos 25% EC at 0.05% (20 ml in 10 litres of water) at 30 and 40 days after germination. Final spray should be given before pulling seedlings.
• In planted crop, spray the above insecticide at 20 and 30 days after planting. After completion of harvestings the stem borer affected plants should be uprooted and burnt to prevent carry over of the pest to the next season.

Order : Coleoptera
Family : Melolonthidae

• In recent years a new pest has been causing damage to tobacco plants in the field. It is commonly known as white grub.

• A female lays between 24 and 92 eggs.
The eggs hatch in 8-13 days. The grubs pass through 3 instars.
• Fully-grown grub is creamy white, measures about 45 mm in length and 11 mm in width.
• When fully grown it ceases feeding, digs down to 15-20 cm and constructs a small cell in the earth, tends to shrivel up in preparation for a change to pupal stage, sheds the skin and pupates.
• In all, the grub takes about 148 days to pupate. The pupa is creamy white when fresh but becomes brown as transformation to adult beetle proceeds.
• In about 11 days it hatches and adult beetle comes out. The adult lives from 78 to 266 days. The total life cycle is completed in about 170 days.

• The grubs cut and feed on roots of well established plants resulting in their wilting and drooping.

• Application of pongamia cake @ 75 kg/ha is effective
  Endosulfan dust 4% @ 60 kg/ha applied to soil before planting will also be effective.
• Adults can be trapped immediately after showers.

Order : Homoptera
Family : Aleurodidae

• The whitefly acts as a vector of leaf curl disease of tobacco in India

• The adult female differs from male in having stouter abdomen and longer wings and pupa is bigger than male pupa.
• A single female lays between 43 and 243 eggs on the dorsal side of the leaves.
• In 4-7 days the eggs hatch and the nymphs come out. After about 7-11 days the nymphs pupate, within 7 days the adult fly emerges out.

• Whitefly transmits leaf curl disease.
• The leaves of the curled plants are twisted, puckered and thickened with abnormally prominent veins.
• The incidence reduces the leaf yield considerably. The disease is more prevalent in tobacco cultivated in light soils than in heavy black cotton soils.

• Remove alternate weed hosts (Solanum nigrum and Solanum xanthocarbum) around nursery area and destroy
• Instal yellow-sticky traps (20 cm x 15 cm size galvanized iron sheet) coated with castor oil @ 5 per acre

• 1^st spray chlorpyrifos 20% EC @ 25 ml in 10 litres of water
• 2^nd spray monocrotophos 36% WSC @ 15 ml in 10 litres of water
• 3^rd spray acephate 25% SP @ 10 gm in 10 litres of water
• 4^th spray methyl demeton 25% EC @ 15 ml in 10 litres of water