| Management |
Activity |
Pre-Sowing*
|
| Nutrients |
• Apply 3.2 to 4 t/acre FYM or 2 t/acre vermicompost or 2.4 t/acre press mud and incorporate in the soil at the time of last preparatory cultivation.
• Use leguminous green manure crops like pigeon pea, black gram, cowpea, cluster bean, French bean etc. |
| Weeds |
• Deep ploughing during summer and leave the field for 25-30 days.
• At the time of field preparation, adopt stale seed bed technique to minimize the weeds menace in field.
• Soil solarization with transparent polyethylene sheet may be adopted.
• Rotation of tobacco crop with pulses should be practiced in for better control of broomrape (Orobanche spp.).
• Raising ‘tray nursery’ is effective for growing weed free seedlings. |
| Insect pests and soil borne pathogens |
Cultural control:
• Collect and destroy the plant debris.
• Deep plough the field to expose the soil borne pathogens and hibernating stage of defoliators and subterranean pests. |
Nursery*
|
| Nutrients |
• Top dressing 35 : 0: 26.8 N:P: K Kg/acre in 6-8 splits |
Damping off, frog eye leaf
spot, leaf blight, anthracnose, black shank |
Cultural control:
• Irrigation by rose can (anthracnose).
Chemical control:
• Benomyl 50% WP @ 90 g in 300 l of water/acre (frog eye leaf spot)
• Copper oxychloride 50% WP @ 1 Kg in 300-400 l of water/acre (black shank and frog eye leaf spot)
• Metalaxyl 8% + mancozeb 64% WP@ 800 g in 400 l of water/acre (leaf blight)
• Zineb 75% WP @ 750-800 g in 300-400 l of water/acre (frog eye leaf spot) |
| Tobacco caterpillar |
Cultural control:
• Deep summer ploughing.
• Growing of castor as trap crop for oviposition.
• Collection and destruction of egg masses and early instar larvae.
• Removal of weeds.
Mechanical control:
• Installation of pheromone traps @ 4-5/acre.
• Installation of light trap with exit option for natural enemies @1/acre.
Biological control:
• Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, Serotype H-3a, 3b, Strain Z-52 @ 0.6-0.8 kg in 200-300 l of water/acre.
• NPV of Spodoptera litura 0.5% AS (1x109 POB/ml) @ 600 ml in 160-240 l of water/acre.
• Release egg parasitoids Trichogramma chilonis 20,000 per acre, Tetrastichus
spp., Telenomus spp.
• Spraying NSKE 5% against eggs and first instar larva.
• Larval parasitoids: Ichneumon promissorius, Bracon sp, Carcelia spp, Chaetopthalmus, Campoletis chloridae.
• Pupal parasitoids: Lissopimpla excels, Ichneumon promissorius.
• Neem extract containing 5% azadirachtin W/W@ 80 ml in 160 l of water/ acre. |
| Stem borer |
Cultural control:
• Removal of infested plants.
• Piercing the infested plants with a sharp needle to kill the caterpillar in the stem.
• Use light trap @1 trap/acre
Biological control:
• Conserve the natural enemies in the crop ecosystem. |
| Whitefly and Grass hoppers** |
Cultural control:
• Field sanitation and rogueing of alternate hosts.
• Plant tall border crops like maize, sorghum or pearl millet to reduce white fly infestations.
• Use yellow sticky traps or cards.
Biological control:
• Conserve the available natural enemies such as Encarsia formosa,
Eretmocerus spp., Dicyphus hesperus, Chrysocharis pentheus, spiders, coccinellids, lacewings etc.
Chemical control:
• Spray oxydemeton–methyl 25% EC @ 400 ml in 200-400 l of water/acre. |
| Root-knot nematode |
Cultural control:
• Crop rotation with graminaceous crops.
• Intercropping of marigold reduces nematode population.
• Nursery should be raised in nematode free sites or fumigated or solarized.
• Deep summer ploughing at 10 days interval reduces juvenile population.
• Repellant plants: Marigold.
• Crop rotation : Marigold, Chrysanthemum, sesbania, Crotalaria spp., Gaillardia, castor and Desmodium spp., (Parasitic nematodes).
• Application of decomposed poultry manure @ 200 g/sq. m.
Chemical control:
• Dazomet Technical @ 12-16 g/acre. |
Transplanting
|
| Nutrients |
• Apply basal dose of NPK at the time of sowing @ 12 Kg N, 16 Kg P2O5 and
24 Kg K2O per acre in main field at the time of transplanting. |
| Weeds |
• Hardened & healthy seedlings, obtained from pure seeds are desirable for
better quality tobacco production and suppression of weed growth. Line sowing with recommended row spacing.
• Timely planting should be done to obtain the healthy tobacco plants. |
| Damping off |
Cultural control:
• Optimum seed rate 1.4 Kg/acre to avoid over-crowding.
• Raising of seed bed upto10–12 cm height.
Biological control:
• Same as pre-sowing stage.
Chemical control:
• Metalaxyl 8% + mancozeb 64% WP @ 2 Kg in 2000 l of water/acre.
• Captan 75% WS@ 20-30 g/Kg seeds. |
Vegetative
|
| Nutrients |
• Apply N and K as top dressing @ 8 kg N and 8 kg K2O per acre between 20 and 25 days after transplanting.
• In K 326 and Rathna varieties apply additional dose of N @ 4 Kg per acre as IInd top dressing at 30-35 days after transplanting. |
| Weeds |
• In standing crop, hand weeding or hoeing at 15 days interval.
• Spreading of mulch helps in suppressing the weeds quite effectively and also preserves the soil moisture. Therefore straw or plastic mulch should be used. |
| Damping off,Frog eye leaf spot, Leaf blight, Anthracnose, Sore Shin |
• Same as in nursery stage. |
| Whitefly |
• Same as in nursery stage. |
| Stem borer |
• Same as in nursery stage. |
| Tobacco caterpillar |
• Same as in nursery stage. |
| Tobacco aphid |
Cultural control:
• Yellow sticky traps or may reduce the density of pest.
• If aphid population is limited to just a few leaves or shoots then the infestation can be pruned out to provide control; check transplants for aphids before planting.
• Reflective mulches such as silver colored plastic can deter aphids from
feeding on plants.
• Sturdy plants can be sprayed with a strong jet of water to knock aphids from leaves.
Biological control:
• Conserve predators such as ladybird beetles viz., Cocciniella septempunctata, Menochilus sexmaculata, Hippodamia variegata and Cheilomones vicina etc. Adult beetle may feed an average of 10 to 15 adults/day, syrphid flies i.e., Sphaerophoria spp., Eristallis spp., Metasyrphis spp., Xanthogramma spp., Syrphus spp., lacewing, Chrysoperla zastrowi sillemi etc.,
• Entomogenous fungus Verticillium lecanii infects aphids.
• Neem extract containing 5% azadirachtin W/W@ 80 ml in 160 l of water/ acre.
Chemical control:
• Oxydemeton–methyl 25% EC @ 400 ml in 200-400 l of water/acre |
| Gram pod borer, bud worm /capsule borer, cut worm** |
Cultural control:
• Hand pick the caterpillar once in three to four days and destroy.
• Trim or top (topping) the flower heads to bring down the incidence of this pest.
• Erect bird perches for encouraging predatory birds.
• Use ovipositional trap crops such as marigold and Nicotiana rustica.
Mechanical control:
• Install pheromone traps @ 4-5/acre.
Biological control:
• Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, Serotype H-3a, 3b, Strain Z-52 @ 0.6-0.8 kg in 200-300 l of water/acre.
• Conserve larval parasitoids such as Bracon sp, Carcelia sp, Campoletis chlorideae, pupal parasitoids such as Lissopimpla excels, Ichneumon promissorius.
• Inundative release of Trichogramma pretiosum @ 40,000 nos./acre/release
starting from flower formation stage for 6 times at weekly interval.
• Conserve predators such as Chrysoperla zastrowi sillemi, coccinellids, King crow, Braconid wasp, dragon fly, spider, robber fly, reduviid bug, praying mantis, fire ants etc. |
Flowering
|
| Nutrients |
• Severe micronutrient deficiency should be corrected by foliar application
of that particular nutrient. |
| Weeds |
• Remove left over weeds/weed top from field to check weed seed
production and spread in field. |
| Black shank |
Cultural control:
• Removal and burning of plant residues and debris.
• Avoiding of water logging.
• Growing resistant/tolerant varieties.
Chemical control:
• Copper oxy chloride 50% WP @1 Kg in 300-400 l of water/acre |
| Wilt** |
Cultural control:
• The affected plants should be removed and destroyed.
• Crop rotation with a non-host crop such as cereals.
• Growing of resistant variety FCH-222.
Biological control:
• Same as in pre-sowing stage. |
| Brown spot |
Cultural control:
• Removal and destruction of all diseased debris minimises the pathogen in the soil.
Chemical control:
• Zineb 75% WP @750-800 g in 300-400 l of water/acre. |
| Cucumber mosaic disease |
Cultural control:
• Rogucing of the affected seedling/ plants before first inter-culture operation.
• Removal of weeds (Solanum nigrum) and plant (Brinjal, Tomato, Chillies)
susceptible to the virus.
• Workers should disinfect their hands with soap and running water before
handling seedlings, weeding or doing other cultural operations. Use of tobacco (smoke, snuff, or chewing) should be prohibited strictly while working in seedbeds or field.
• Growing of resistant varieties.
• Spray leaf extracts of Basella alba, Bougainvillea (one litre of extract dissolved in 100-150 litre of water) on 30th, 40th and 50th days after transplanting.
• Use yellow sticky traps for the management of aphid vector. |
| Tobacco leaf curl, tobacco ring spot, mosaic disease |
Cultural control:
• Deep summer ploughing for management of nematode vector Xiphinema
americanum for ring spot virus.
• Remove and destroy the diseased tobacco seedlings before and after planting whenever they are seen in the field. Fill the gaps with healthy seedlings if it is not too late.
• Alternate weed hosts for whitefly should be removed and destroyed.
• In endemic areas Sesbania sp. may be grown as a barrier crop around tobacco fields.
• Install 4-5 yellow sticky traps to manage the white fly and aphid as pest and as a vector for the management leaf curl virus and cucumber mosaic virus respectively.
• Install 4-5 blue sticky traps to manage the thrips as vector.
Chemical control: For control of vector.
• Oxydemeton–methyl 25% EC@ 400 ml in 200-400 l of water/acre. |
Note: The pesticide dosages and spray fluid volumes are based on high volume sprayer.
*Apply Trichoderma spp. and Pseudomonas fluorescens as seeds/seedlings/planting materials, nursery treatment and soil application (if commercial products are used, check for label claim. However, biopesticides produced by farmers for own consumption in their fields, registration is not required).
** Pests of regional significance
|
