Shoot fly complex: A significant threat to cereals, and their management
Swastik Bhattacharjya
Shoot Fly, Atherigona spp. (Rondani) is a Dipteran fly belonging to House fly family, Muscidae. This is a very serious concerned and considered as a major pest of Sorghum, Maize, Wheat, and other Millets, mainly associated with the major and minor cereal crops. The Atherigona genus contains many species that are primarily specialized to each crop. This pest was reported to be a serious pest in spring maize which causes heavy plant loss. Also it possesses a significant threat to sorghum production worldwide. It was reported to cause up to 60% plant loss and around 21% grain yield loss depending upon the crops. The major damage caused by the pest drying and withering of the central shoot, which mainly leads to the ultimate reduction in economic yield of the crop. As an internal borer fly causes severe reduction in grain as well as stalk yield of every potential cereal host plants. In a very advanced research, it has demonstrated that the Shoot fly has already developed cross-resistance against the several systemic insecticides. Rather than trying to control the flies, we need to manage them in order to reduce such significant crop losses. That’s why the concepts of Integrated Pest management has arrived and been implemented to reduce the pest population up to Economic Threshold Level (ETL). Several control approaches become harmoniously coordinated and applied to keep the safe environment for the beneficial insects as well as also to control the target pests. In this literature, the level of incidence, shoot fly complex attacking on different crops and their viable IPM strategies will be discussed briefly in a short course.
Swastik Bhattacharjya. Shoot fly complex: A significant threat to cereals, and their management. J Entomol Zool Stud 2024;12(3):241-245. DOI: 10.22271/j.ento.2024.v12.i3c.9338