Sugarcane borers cause great damage; how can they be controlled scientifically?

Sugarcane (scientific name: Saccharum officinarum) belongs to the genus Saccharum and is a perennial tall solid herb. Its rhizomes are thick and well developed. The stalks are 3-5 (-6) m tall. It is widely cultivated in tropical southern regions such as Taiwan, China, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan. Sugarcane is suitable for planting in places with fertile soil, abundant sunshine and a large temperature difference between winter and summer. Sugarcane is a temperate and tropical crop, the raw material for making sucrose, and can also be refined into ethanol as an alternative energy source. More than one hundred countries around the world produce sugarcane, and the largest sugarcane-producing countries are Brazil, India and China. Sugarcane contains abundant sugar and water, and also contains various vitamins, fats, proteins, organic acids, calcium, iron and other substances that are very beneficial to human metabolism. It is mainly used for sugar production. The rind is generally purple or green, and red or brown rind also occurs, but is relatively rare.

Sugarcane borers, also called sugarcane stem borers, are the main pests causing sugarcane yield reduction, mainly damaging sugarcane seedlings and cane stems through larval infestation. During the sugarcane seedling stage, they invade the growing point, causing deadheart seedlings. Because of the damaged site, it is not convenient to spray pesticides, so as to avoid adverse effects. But when facing borers, is there really no way to eradicate them?

1. Eliminate overwintering sugarcane borers and reduce the insect source;

When harvesting sugarcane, cut low with a small hoe, promptly remove residual stems, dead seedlings and dead leaves from the sugarcane field, and burn them in a concentrated place on site. Before the adult sugarcane borers emerge, cut away the autumn and winter shoots. In areas where the white borer occurs and causes damage, after the crushing season begins, manpower can be concentrated to first cut the sugarcane stems with dead tops and send them to the sugar factory, in order to control the overwintering white borer. In sugarcane fields where ratooning is not retained, plow up the cane stumps and burn them or soak the sugarcane field in water for 3 days to eliminate the overwintering insect source. In addition, select healthy and robust sugarcane seedlings without borer damage as seed cane, and soak the seed with limewater, which can prevent seed cane from spreading borer damage. Appropriately advance the planting period, or implement winter planting with sufficient basal fertilizer, so that tillering occurs early and grows quickly, reducing missing plants caused by borer damage. Implement crop rotation, such as rotating sugarcane with rice, sweet potato or vegetables, which can reduce sugarcane borer damage.

2. Cutting off dead tops can significantly reduce damage.

3. Promptly deal with deadheart seedlings. After deadheart seedlings appear and before adult emergence, first use a small knife to push away the soil at the base of the deadheart seedling stems, then cut diagonally downward near the insect hole to stab the larvae to death.

4. Chemical control: spray Diaoda 1.8% abamectin special insecticide for borers at 500 times dilution evenly, focusing on spraying below the three-fork opening.

5. Biological control: Trichogramma is an egg parasitoid wasp that can parasitize the eggs of many pests such as the yellow borer, the two-spotted borer and the striped borer, preventing them from becoming larvae, and the hatched Trichogramma eliminate sugarcane borers during the egg stage.

6. Control by the sex pheromone mating disruption method. Its mechanism of action is to release a certain amount of sex pheromone in the sugarcane field (a biomimetic compound, in the form of a hollow plastic tube or line). The gas diffuses through the space of the mating activity layer of borer moths, interfering with male moths so that they cannot identify the direction of the female moths, thereby interrupting the sex information connection between male and female moths and stopping mating activity, greatly reducing their reproduction amount and population density. This is a new technology and a new approach for controlling borers.

In short, the above are some effective experiences for controlling sugarcane borer disease, and I hope they can help everyone.