A case study of insect pests responsible for mass citrus decline in Manipur and their control remedies

The present study revealed that the trunk borer (high), the leaf miner (low), citrus psylla (medium), red scale (low), mealy bugs (low), lemon butterfly (low), black fly (medium), fruit sucking moth (low), citrus looper (low) and black aphids (medium) were witnessed as important insect pests of Mandarin orange in Manipur. These pests significantly attribute towards the citrus decline in the state. Further the results indicated that management of these insect pests, diagnosis of the causes of citrus decline, the rejuvenation schedule could be formulated with multi-displinary approaches like proper spacing, sanitation, regulate the vegetative growth by proper scheduling of irrigation and fertilizer application, growing curry leaf (Murraya koenigii) plant as collateral host in the vicinity of citrus orchards since it acts as breeding site for psylla, removal of water shoots regularly to restrict leaf miner, black fly, incidence since it survives on these water shoots during off season, placing yellow sticky traps whitefly, black fly & leaf miner control, sticky bands on the trunk portion of the tree to prevent the climbing of mealy bug crawlers, raking of tree basins during April-May exposes fruit fly pupae to harsh climate and natural enemies, followed by application of either T, Zorba (fenbucarb 20% + buprofezin 5%) 25 SE @ 30 ml/I5 litres of water + Fish water to attract predatory ant + smoking with agronomic practices & ITK, T,= Tabuz (buprofezin 15% + acephate 35%) 50 WP @ 30 ml/15 litres of water + fish water to attract predatory ant + smoking with agronomic practices & ITK, T,_Acephate 70 SP @ 30 gm @ 30 ml/15 litres of water + fish water to attract predatory ant + smoking with agronomic practices & ITK and T,.Thiamethoxam 75 WG @ 30/15 litres of water + fish water to attract predatory ant + smoking with agronomic practices & ITK with a record of high, moderate, moderate and moderate effectiveness, Tespectively, three times first at young flush during Spring (February-March), 2" during Summer (June-July) and 3° during Winter (October-November) with combination of fish water to attract predatory ant + smoking with ITK (Indigenous Technical Knowledge) and agronomic practices which can be used to check citrus decline in NE region in general and Manipur in particular recording high and moderate effectiveness against the major insect pests of citrus