Ber Crop Stage Wise IPM

Pre- planting

Common cultural practices:

• Deep ploughing of fields during summer.
• Field sanitation, rogueing
• Use resistant/tolerant varieties.
• Grow the attractant, repellent plants around the field bunds.
• Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations

Nutrients

• Apply nutrients on the basis of soil test report and recommendation for the particular agro-climatic zone.
• The pits of 60x60x60 cm size are dug during summer are dug in summer a month before planting.
• Fill the pits with top soil mixed with 25 kg FYM treated with Trichoderma .

Weeds

• Ploughing, harrowing, leveling and removing the weeds before planting.

Soil-borne pathogens, and resting stages of insects

Cultural control:

• Deep summer ploughing of fields to exposes dormant stages (pupa and larva) and subsequently reduces their initial population build up.

Planting

Common cultural practices:

• Plant resistant varieties.
• Practice field sanitation.
• Timely planting with recommended spacing.

Nutrients

• · Planting is done in pits already filled with top soil and farm yard manure.
• Apply 20 g each of Azospirullum and mycorrhizae per plant at planting.

Weeds

• Use weed free seedlings for planting.
• Remove existing weeds in and around the pits at the time of planting.

Diseases and insect pests

Cultural control:

• Grow resistant varieties viz., Safeda selected, glory, Dhaka 1 and Dhaka – 2 resistant to powdery mildew, Banarsi Pewandi, Ajmeri, Gola,Gurgaon and Jhajjar resistant to fruit borer and Umran, Tikkady tolerant to fruit fly
• Follow ring method for irrigation to reduce collar rot

Leaf spot

Cultural control:

• Avoid planting in low-lying areas and flooding.
• Do not delay irrigation until the crop exhibits moisture stress symptoms.

Die back**

Cultural control:

• Scion wood selected for propagation should be free from infection
• Prevent introduction of disease in newly planted orchards.

Mechanical control:

• Any infected portion be pruned immediately, followed by pasting with cow dung at the cut ends.
• Pruning should be done in such a way that some healthy portion is also removed, to ensure complete eradication of pathogen (3 “below the infection site).

Application of Trichoderma harzianum/ viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens for treatment of seed/seedling/planting materials in the nurseries and field 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).

Vegetative stage

Common cultural practices:

• Deep ploughing (two/three times) between rows to expose the hibernating pupae to sunlight and predatory birds.
• Keep the orchard clean and healthy
• Remove and destroy alternate wild hosts

Common mechanical practices:

• Prune diseased leaves and malformed panicles harbouring the pathogen to reduce primary inoculum load.
• Remove and destroy the diseased orchard.
• Remove plant debris
• The infected branches should be collected and burnt
• Remove the infected leaves in the lower rows.
• Set up light trap@1trap/acre
• Collect and destroy egg mass and larvae.
• Use yellow sticky traps @ 4-5/acre

Common biological practices:

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

Nutrients

• Apply fertilizers according to the age of plant as mentioned below;

• The manures and fertilizers should be applied in 20-30 cm deep and 30 cm wide trench along the drip line of the tree.

Weeds

• Intercultural operations like ploughing, harrowing etc. should be done on regular basis especially around the plants.
• To suppress the weeds between rows, leguminous crops like green gram, mothbean, clusterbean, chickpea, cow pea and vegetables e.g. chillies can be grown as intercrops during initial 5 years.
• Use straw or black polyethylene ‘mulch’ to avoid weed growth and to maintain soil moisture for longer period.
• Use slashing and moving between the rows to control the weeds.

Leaf spot

• As mentioned above in the seedling stage

Powdery mildew

Cultural control:

• Spraying at full bloom needs to be avoided.
• Alkathene bands should be cleaned at regular interval

Chemical control:

• Spraying of carbendazim 50% WP @ 10 g diluted in 10 l water per tree.

Blue butter fly

Cultural control:

• Remove the infested leaves from the plant.

Green slug Caterpillar

Cultural control:

• Leaflets have to be observed for fresh incidence by cutting 1-2 leaf fronds.

Grey hairy caterpillar

Cultural control:

• Irrigate once to avoid prolonged mid-season drought to prevent pre-harvest infestation.

Mechanical control:

• Dig the pit of 1 inch depth between the orchids & dust to kill the larvae in pits.

Biological control:

• Follow common biological practices.

Bark eating caterpillar

Cultural control:

• Remove frassy galleries and paint the bark.
• Application of the solution, made up by mixing 1 lit of kerosene and 100 g soap in 9 lit of water to the holes effectively controls the bark eating caterpillar.

Mite

Cultural control:

• Regular field monitoring & use sweep net in the morning hrs for monitoring of pest & defender population, barrier crops like mustard crop around the field.
• Grow attractant plants like French bean
• Plant tall border crops like maize, sorghum or millet to reduce pest population.

Biological control:

• Follow common biological practices.
• Plant tall border crops such as maize, sorghum etc. as barrier crops

Cultural control:

• Avoid excess use of nitrogen.
• Growing tomato or marigold as a trap crop.

Mechanical control:

• See the common mechanical practices

Biological control:

• Follow common biological practices.

Leaf eating caterpillar

Mechanical control:

• At early and smaller scale, pluck the leaves with egg masses and young caterpillars and destroy.

Lac insect

Mechanical control:

• Remove and destroy the infested dry part and scrap off the infested twig before treatment

Reproductive/ Fruiting stage

Nutrients

• Spray 2% KNO₃ thrice at monthly intervals in January, February and March.
• Apply recommended micronutrients, if deficiency symptoms are observed.
• For the correction of Zinc and Boron deficiency, apply Zinc suphate @ 0.5% and Boric acid @ 0.1%, respectively as foliar spray.

Weeds

• Remove weeds around the plants.
• Continue to use straw or black polyethylene mulch to avoid weed growth and to maintain soil moisture for longer period.

Fruit fly

Cultural control:

• Clean cultivation/sanitation of orchards by picking and destroying the infested fruits should be done.
• To escape egg laying on fruits, harvest at green and firm stage and do not allow the fruit to ripe on the tree.
• Destroy the hibernating pupae by exposing them to bright sunlight and birds
• Prior to harvest, collect and dispose off infested and fallen fruits to prevent further, multiplication and carry-over of population.
• If infestation is heavy, bait splash on the trunk only, once or twice at weekly interval is recommended. To prepare bait splash, mix 100 g of jaggery in one litre of water and add 1 ml of deltamethrin by using an old broom.

Mechanical control:

• Male annihilation technique: Set up fly trap using methyl eugenol. Prepare methyl eugenol 1 ml/L of water + 1 ml of malathion solution. Take 10 ml of this mixture per trap and keep them at 25 different places in one ha between 6 and 8 AM.
• Collect and destroy the adult flies.

Biological control:

• Follow common biological practices.
• The extract of azadiractin 1% and Ocimum sanctum 1% were effective up to 10 days after spraying. Application of neem powder and tobacco leaf extracts would also significantly reduce C. vesuviana damage and they could be the potential candidates for organic cultivation of ber

Fruit borer

Cultural control:

• Removal of wild ber trees around the ber orchard. Rack the soil under the tree or near the trees to destroy the maggots and pupae present in the soil.
• Collection and proper destruction of infested fallen fruits. Harvest of fruits at immediate after maturity (green stage).

Stone weevil**

Cultural control:

• The pest feeds only on the seed portion of developing fruits and arrest further development of attacked fruit.
• The entry hole is healed up and closed while the exit hole can be clearly seen.
• Collection and destruction of adult weevil immediately after detection can also reduce the population. Infested dropped fruits should be collected and burned to break the generation cycle.

Mite, Leaf eating caterpillar and Lac insect

• As mentioned in the above vegetative stage

Fruit rot

Cultural control:

• Using disease-free transplants is the most effective method for controlling.
• Use of drip irrigation, limits the dispersal of the pathogen.
• Plants are also more sensitive to infection under high fertility conditions.
• Reduced nitrogen rates or the use of nitrate rather than ammonium nitrogen sources may also reduce

Powdery mildew

• As mentioned in the above vegetative stage

Sooty mould

Cultural control:

• Pruning of affected branches and their prompt destruction prevents the spread of the disease

Birds

Mechanical control:

• Use bird scarers

Biological control:

• Apply NSKE 5% on panicle to save the damage from birds