How to Achieve Integrated Control in Locust Farming

Locusts, also known as “grasshoppers”, “rice stem borers”, “paddy grasshoppers”, and “grasshoppers”, belong to the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta. China has more than 17 known species of locusts. In our area, the Chinese rice locust (Oxya chinensis) is the dominant species, mainly damaging crops such as rice, corn, sugarcane, and wild rice stem.

The Chinese rice locust has 2 generations per year in our area. The first-generation nymphs (also called hoppers) appear in mid-May, and the second generation appears in late August. Locusts are phytophagous insects, mainly feeding on plant leaves as adults and nymphs. In mild cases, they cause notches in the leaves; in severe cases, they eat all the leaves, leaving only the veins. They usually occur more seriously along river areas, in low-lying areas, and on rice field ridges.

Locusts occur throughout the city, mainly in townships such as Wangxian, Shenfugang, Xianxia, and Huangtazui. The affected area increases year by year, with an average of 50 insects per square meter and up to 180 insects in severely affected plots. In mild cases, yields are reduced; in severe cases, there is total crop failure. Locusts have become an intermittent secondary pest harming crops in our city. Strengthening prevention and control can start from three aspects:

1. Agricultural control 1) Reduce locust habitats. Some locust outbreak areas are low-lying, and we can convert such plots into ponds for raising fish and shrimp. This can greatly reduce locust habitats and also provide better locust control. 2) In early spring, while repairing field ridges, remove 1 cun (about 3.3 cm) of turf from the ridges and compost it to kill locust eggs. 3) Manual locust catching.

2. Biological control 1) Protect and utilize natural enemies. Locusts have many natural enemies, including frogs, lizards, birds, fungi, viruses, nematodes, predatory beetles, parasitic wasps, and parasitic flies. 2) When nymphs gather in field-edge wastelands, release chickens and ducks to peck at them. 3) Biological pesticide control. Biological pesticides currently used to control locusts include Nosema locustae, Metarhizium anisopliae, and azadirachtin.

3. Chemical control When locusts occur in the field, at the stage before the 3rd instar (late May and late August) when nymphs are relatively concentrated, use 100 milliliters of 2.5% lambda-cyhalothrin per mu, or 100 milliliters of 1.8% abamectin, or 20 grams of 3% emamectin benzoate, mixed with 40 kilograms of water for spraying.