Abstract

Diatraea venosata Walk. is a Pyralid borer attacking sugarcane in South India. It is found along with two other borers-Argyrıa sticticraspis Hampson and Scirpophaga rhodoproctalis Hampson-also belonging to the family Pyralidae. Ramachandra Rao (1930) and Rama-. krishna Ayyar (1933) while considering Argyria sticticraspis Hampson as the most important pest, state that the other two are of minor importance only. Cherian and Subramanian (1937) have shown that Scirpophaga is not so unimportant as it was once considered to be. Detailed studies by the authors of Diatraea venosata Walk. with special reference to the symp- toms of attack and incidence go to show that the borer is mainly responsi- ble for reduction in tonnage and sucrose content in millable canes and partly responsible for the loss of young shoots in the earlier stages of the crop, especially in the Coimbatore tract.

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