Sunflower pests

Pests of National Significance in Sunflower

Insect Pests

• Tobacco caterpillar: Spodoptera litura Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
• Head borer: Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
• Jassids: Amrasca biguttula Ishida (Homoptera: Cicadellidae)
• Thrips: Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood (Thripidae: Thysanoptera)
• Green semilooper: Thysanoplusia orichalcea Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
• Cabbage semilooper: Trichoplusia ni (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
• Bihar hairy caterpillar: Spilosoma obliqua Walker (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae)
• Cutworm: Agrotis ipsilon Rott (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
• Termite: Odontotermes obesus (Rambur) & Microtermes obeli Hol (Isoptera: Termitidae)

Diseases

• Alternaria leaf spot: Alternaria helianthi (Hansf.) Tubaki & Nishi
• Sunflower Necrosis disease: Tobacco Streak Virus
• Downy mildew: Plasmopara halstedii Farl. Berl. & De Toni
• Rust: Puccinia helianthi Schwein
• Sclerotium wilt: Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc
• Charcoal rot: Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid
• Sclerotinia wilt and rot: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary

Pests of Regional Significance

Insect Pests

• Whitefly: Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)
• Armyworm: Spodoptera exigua (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Diseases

• Head rot: Rhizopus arrhizus Fischer
• Powdery mildew: Erysiphe cichoracearum f.sp. helianthi DC ex Meret and Sphaerotheca fuliginea (Schlecht.ex Fr) Pollacci

Weeds

Grassy weeds

• Rabbit/crow foot grass: Dactyloctenium aegyptium Willd ( Poaceae)
• Goose grass: Eleusine indica L. Gaertner (Poaceae)
• Crabgrass: Digiteria sanguinalis L.Scop (Poaceae)
• Burmuda Grass: Cynodon dactylon (L) Pers (Poaceae)
• Cannery grass: Phalaris minor Retz. (Poaceae)
• Barnyard grass: Echinochloa colona (L.) Link, E. crusgalli (L.) Honda (Poaceae)
• Viper grass: Dinebra retroflexa (Vahl) Panz (Poaceae)
• Sweet signal grass: Brachiaria eruciformis (Sm.) Griseb (Poaceae)

Broad leaf

• False amaranth: Digera arvensis Forssk (Amaranthaceae)
• Pigweed: Amaranthus viridis Hook. F. (Amaranthaceae)
• Swine cress: Coronopus didymus L. Sm. (Brassicaceae)
• Black nightshade: Solanum nigrum L. (Solanaceae)
• Common purselane: Portulaca oleracea L. (Portulacaceae)
• Carrot grass: Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Asteraceae)
• Tropical spiderwort: Commelina benghalensis L. (Commelinaceae)
• Stonebreaker: Phyllanthus niruri L. Phyllanthaceae
• Silver cockscomb: Celosia argentea L. Amaranthaceae
• Devil's horsewhip: Achyranthes aspera L. Amaranthaceae

Sedges

• Purple nutsedge: Cyperus rotundus L (Cypraceae)
• Rice flatsedge: Cyperus iria L (Cyperaceae)
• Yellow nutsedge: Cyperus esculentus L (Cyperaceae)

Vertebrates

• Birds: Parakeets

IPM for Sunflower

To know the IPM practices for Sunflower, click here.

Source: NIPHM; Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage