A Large Scale Campaign for the Control of White Grubs (Holotrichia serrata F.) in Maharashtra State

Abstract

A large scale white grub control campaign was launched by the Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani. Pit trapping indicated that there was an initial beetle population of about 50 million in an area of 876 ha. About 9,000,000 beetles were collected mechanically and destroyed. One spraying of 12,000 babul and neem trees with 0.4% DDT killed 88% of the beetles. The percentage reduction in the plant population of rice, chillies, jowar and sugarcane, due to white grub attack was 1.83, 6.34, 3.59 and 3.02 in the treated area as against 65.54, 56.06, 49.68 and 8.94 in the untreated area. In cotton there was no reduction in plant population in the treated area. There was an increase in yield in paddy, chilli, cotton and jowar to the extent of 164.5, 102.2, 27.8 and 12.7% respectively in the treated area of Ratoli. There was an 80% reduction in the white grub larval population.