Broccoli Crop Stage Wise IPM

Pre-sowing and nursery stage

Common cultural practices:

• Deep ploughing of fields during summer. Three summer ploughings at 10 days interval reduces pests population.
• Timely sowing should be done.
• Use straw mulch in the nursery for better germination.
• Field sanitation, rogueing
• Destroy the alternate host plants
• Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations.
• Grow the attractant, repellent, and trap crops around the field bunds.
• Growing tomato or marigold as a trap crop for the management of leaf miner.
• Plant tall border crops like maize, sorghum for the management of aphids.
• Crop rotation with non-host crops (non-cruciferous)

Nutrients

• Broccoli grows best on a well-drained, medium to heavy soil with high organic matter content. Apply nutrients based on soil test report. It requires moist soil for fast and proper growth. The shoots become more fibrous under dry soil. It does well in pH range of 5.0 to 6.5. Plough the nursery beds thoroughly and mix with well rotten FYM @ 8 t per acre

Weeds

• At the time of field preparation, adopt stale seed bed technique to minimize the weeds menace in field.
• Soil solarization of nursery beds with transparent polyethylene sheet
• Keep the nursery weeds free by hand weeding

Soil borne pathogens, insects and nematodes

• Raised nursery beds.
• Soil solarization: Cover the beds with transparent polythene sheet of 100gauge thickness for three weeks before sowing for soil solarization which will help in reducing the soil borne pests.
• Apply neem cake @ 180 Kg/acre at the time of transplanting for reducing nematodes..

Termites

Cultural control:

• Apply well rotten farm yard manure only to discourage termite infestation.
• Take 4 number earthen pots/acre around the hole and put 500 maize gully without seed or keep 1 kg of raw cow dung at 10 places in fields if the earlier crop is wheat. Destroy the crop residues which form the sources of infestation.
• Use of crude oil emulsion to destroy the termite colony in the termitorium.

Mechanical control:

• Dismantle termitoria (termite mounds) around field and kill the termite queen by fumigation.

Biological control:

• Apply neem cake@ 80 kg/acre.

DBM

Cultural control:

• After land preparation leave two ridges at the beginning and then after every 25 rows and at the end.
• Removal and destruction of stubbles and plant debris after harvest and ploughing the field.
• Grow intercrops such as tomato, garlic, coriander and carrot in alternate rows with broccoli.
• Growing of 2 rows Indian mustard as trap crop after every 16 rows of broccoli (Sowing of first row of Indian mustard 15 days prior to broccoli planting and second row 25 days after broccoli planting).

Sowing/ Transplanting

Nutrients

• Apply 16-20kg N, 32kg P and 24 kg K per acre at the time of sowing

Weeds

• Avoid weed seedlings along with broccoli seedlings transplanting.
• Transplant the seedling in weed free beds.
• Follow the row transplanting with recommended rows and plants spacing

Black rot, root rot

Cultural control:

• Use resistant/tolerant varieties, if any.
• Crop sanitation
• Use of disease free certified seed.
• Appropriate drainage system to avoid movement of pathogens from plant to plant.
• Treat the seed in hot water (58 ºC) for 30 min.

Damping off

Cultural control:

• Excessive watering and poorly drained are as should be avoided for sowing/transplanting.
• Use raised beds: more than 15cm height is better for water drainage or use pro-trays for raising seedlings

Alternaria leaf blight

Cultural control:

• Crop rotation for 3 years without cruciferous crops or cruciferous weeds such as wild mustard.
• Allow for good aeration (i.e. wide spacings, rows parallel to prevailing winds, not close to hedgerows).
• Adequate drainage for avoiding excessive soil moisture.
• Avoid low land for cropping.

Termites

• Same as pre-sowing stage

Club root of crucifer

• Soil solarization and soil fumigation (vapam).
• Maintain soil pH 7 by adding lime.
• Eradication of cruciferous weeds.

Vegetative

Common cultural practices:

• Collect and destroy diseased and insect infected plant parts.
• Provide irrigation at critical stages of the crop
• Avoid water stagnation.
• Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when 1-2 larval parasitoids are observed

Common mechanical practices:

• Collection and destruction of eggs and early stage larvae
• Handpick the older larvae during early stages
• The infested curd and seed capsules may be collected and destroyed
• Handpick the gregarious caterpillars and the pupae which are found on leavesand destroy them in kerosene mixed water.
• Use yellow sticky traps for aphids @ 4-5 trap/acre.
• Use light trap @ 1/acre and operate between 6 pm and 10 pm
• Install pheromone traps @ 4-5/acre for monitoring adult moths activity (replace the lures with fresh lures after every 2-3 weeks)
• Erecting of bird perches @ 20/acre for encouraging predatory birds such as King crow, common mynah etc.
• Set up bonfire during evening hours at 7-8 pm

Common biological practices:

• Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering
• Augmentative release of natural enemies

Nutrients

• Apply remaining half dose of N in 2 equal split doses i.e. 8- 10 kg N per acre at 4 - 5 weeks after transplanting and 8 - 10kg N per acre before head formation

Weeds

• Tool weeding and hoeing should be done once within 20-25 days after transplanting and second time 45 days after transplanting. Deep hoeing should be avoided.
• Mulching with black Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) sheets of 30micron thickness by burying both the ends into the soil to a depth of 10 cm will avoid weed growth

DBM

• See common cultural practices.

Biological control:

• Release egg parasitoid, Trichogramma chilonis/pretiosum @ 20,000/acre 4-6 times at weekly interval.
• Release larval parasitoids, Diadegmasemi clausum@ 1,00,000/acre (Hills – below 25 –27ºC) or Cotesia plutellae (plains) @ 20,000/acre from 20 days after planting

Cabbage borer, cabbage leaf webber, Cabbage

• See common cultural and biological practices.

Cutworm

Cultural control:

• Use of ovipositional trap crops such as castor @ 250 plants/acre and collection of larvae from leaves and soil clods.
• For other cultural and biological practices see common practices

Painted bug

Cultural control:

• Remove weed hosts in and around planting areas.
• Removal of plant residue after harvest can reduce carryover between crops.
• In gardens where the painted bug is present in very high densities, it may be advisable to remove very attractive host plants and replace them with non-cruciferous plants.

Mechanical control:

• Hand picking the bugs when populations are very low.
• When infestations are heavy, it may be possible to collect the bugs with a portable vacuum cleaner. It is often easier to tap the plant onto a sheet and collect/vacuum the bugs rather than removing them individually.
• Pyramid traps baited with crushed sweet alyssum, inside polypropylene bags, can also be used to catch and destroy bugs, particularly when numbers are high.

Biological control:

• See common biological practices

Leaf eating weevil

• Adopt common cultural and biological practices

White fly, thrips

Cultural control:

• Clipping of infested leaves.
• Avoid water log conditions.
• Avoid planting in low land areas
• For others follow common practices.
• Follow common mechanical practices.

Biological Control:

• See common practices.

Leaf miner

• See common cultural and biological practices.

Red spider mite

Cultural Control:

• Regular field monitoring for pest and defender population, barrier crops like mustard crop around the field.
• Attractant plants like French bean are helpful for attraction of Predator.
• Frequent irrigation deters the red spider mite population.

Biological control:

• Release 8 days old Anthocorid bug, Blaptostethuspallescens.

Caterpillars

Cultural control:

• See common cultural practices.

Biological control:

• Spray NSKE 5% against eggs and first instar larvae.
• Spray SlNPV @ 40LE/ac in combination with jaggery 1 kg, sandovit 100 ml or Robin Blue 50 g thrice at 10-15 days interval on observing the eggs or first instar larvae in the evening hours.

Cabbage butterfly

Cultural control:

• Fine-mesh netting in nursery will stop butterflies from reaching the crop and lay eggs. Collect and destroy eggs or caterpillars mechanically by hand- usually on the underside of the leaves.
• Intercropping cabbages with Nasturtium results in fewer egglaying on cabbage by the butterflies.

Biological control:

• See common biological control.

Club rot diseases

Cultural control:

• A pH slightly above neutral (usually about pH 7.2) helps to minimize disease
• Add hydrated lime to soil to increase pH to 7.2 (6 weeks before planting) as per soil test recommendation.
• Avoid excess irrigation

White blister

Cultural control:

• Sanitary measures and destruction of weeds
• Crop rotation with non-cruciferous crops

Downy mildew

Cultural control:

• Soil solarization, burning of infected plant debris, deep ploughing, well-drained soil.
• Restricted irrigation.

Mosaic disease

• Control insect vector

Black rot

• Same as in sowing stage

Alternaria leaf blight

• Pruning of diseased leaves and burn it.
• Others are same as sowing stage.

Other Lepidopteran insects

• Same as in vegetative stage

Head stage

Nutrients

• Apply deficient micronutrients in standing crop

Weeds

• Remove the weeds before shedding of their seeds in the field.

Mustard Saw fly

Cultural control:

• Summer ploughing to destroy the pupae.
• Early sowing should be done.
• Maintain clean cultivation.
• Apply irrigation in seedling stage for sawfly management because most of the larvae die due to drowning effect.

Mechanical control:

• Collection and destruction of larvae of saw fly in morning and evening

Biological control:

• Conserve Perilissuscingulator (parasitoids of the larvae), and the bacterium Serratiamarcescens which infect the larvae of sawfly.
• Use of bitter gourd seed oil emulsion as an anti-feedant.

Other insect pests and diseases

• Same as sowing and vegetative stage.