Cotton Leafhopper (Jassid)
Amrasca biguttula biguttula
📖 Description
Cotton Leafhopper (Jassid) is a major sap-sucking pest of cotton and okra across the Indian subcontinent. Both adults and nymphs suck sap from the underside of leaves, injecting toxic saliva that causes ‘hopperburn’ — characteristic yellowing, browning, and curling of leaf margins. Heavy infestation causes leaves to dry and turn reddish-brown, stunts plant growth, and reduces boll formation. The pest is most damaging to cotton varieties with smooth leaves; hairy-leaf varieties resist oviposition and are widely used in Indian cotton breeding. Outbreaks are favored by excessive nitrogen fertilization, which produces tender succulent growth attractive to leafhoppers, and by the destruction of natural enemies through broad-spectrum insecticide misuse. Conservation biological control with predatory bugs and lacewings is central to sustainable management.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Hopperburn — yellowing, browning, and curling of leaf margins, leaves dry and turn reddish-brown, stunted plants, reduced boll formation, leaf curling (parasite-like) on okra, yield loss 30-50% in heavy infestation
🩹 Treatment
- Spray neem oil 5ml/L with sticker, apply systemic insecticides at early infestation, release predatory bugs, conserve natural enemies, avoid excessive nitrogen
🌿 Organic treatments
- Spray neem oil 5 ml/L with sticker, apply 5% NSKE, release green lacewings (Chrysoperla carnea) @ 5000/ha, apply Lecanicillium lecanii @ 5 g/L, intercrop with cowpea or soybean for predator habitat, avoid excessive nitrogen
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.3 ml/L, Thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.4 g/L, Acephate 75 SP @ 1 g/L, Dimethoate 30 EC @ 1.5 ml/L, Fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/L (rotate; resistance common)
🛡️ Prevention
- Plant resistant varieties (with hairy leaves that deter oviposition), avoid excessive nitrogen, intercrop with cowpea or soybean to enhance predator habitat, inspect undersides of leaves weekly, conserve predatory bugs and spiders, avoid broad-spectrum insecticides that kill natural enemies, balanced fertilizer use
🪴 Affected plants
- Cotton, Okra (Bhendi), Brinjal, Sunflower, Castor, Potato, Some Ornamentals
🦋 Natural predators
- Chrysoperla carnea, Mirid Bugs, Spiders, Ladybird Beetles, Predatory Bugs
🌱 Host plants
- Gossypium spp., Abelmoschus esculentus, Solanum melongena, Helianthus annuus, Ricinus communis
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 30-100 eggs inside leaf veins and petioles.
- Eggs hatch in 4-7 days.
- Nymphs pass through 5 instars over 7-14 days.
- Adults live 15-30 days.
- Total life cycle 12-21 days; 10-15 overlapping generations per year in tropical conditions.
📅 Season
- Year-round in tropical climates, peaks Jun-Nov during cotton season
🔎 Appearance
- Small, wedge-shaped, greenish-yellow leafhoppers with two black spots on the head.
- Adults jump and fly quickly when disturbed.
- Nymphs are pale greenish-yellow, moving sideways across leaf undersides when disturbed.
💥 Damage level
- High
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Rapid
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- Southeast Asia
- East Asia
- Africa
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