Sorghum Shoot Fly
Atherigona soccata
📖 Description
Sorghum Shoot Fly is the most destructive pest of sorghum seedlings across the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Adult female flies lay eggs on the underside of seedling leaves. Newly hatched maggots move down between leaf sheaths to the meristem, where they cut the central shoot, causing ‘deadheart’ — the central leaf wilts and dries up while side tillers may give the plant a bushy appearance. Damaged plants either die or produce unproductive side tillers, causing 30-90% yield loss. The pest is most damaging to late-sown kharif sorghum and rabi sorghum. Early sowing, seed treatment with systemic insecticides, and resistant varieties are the foundation of management.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Deadheart (drying of central shoot) in seedlings 1-4 weeks after emergence
- wilting and drying of the central leaf
- side tiller production giving a bushy appearance
- cut stem with frass and the maggot inside
- plant death in heavy infestation
- yield loss 30-90%
🩹 Treatment
- Apply carbofuran 3G @ 8 kg/ha in seed furrows at sowing
- use seed treatment with imidacloprid @ 7g/kg seed
- set up fishmeal traps @ 10/ha for adult flies
- increase seed rate to compensate for plant loss
- sow early to escape peak fly activity
🌿 Organic treatments
- Set up fishmeal (decomposed) bait traps @ 10/ha for adult flies
- apply neem cake @ 250 kg/ha in seed furrows
- sow early in the season to escape peak activity
- increase seed rate by 25% to compensate for loss
- use resistant varieties
- apply Bacillus thuringiensis seed treatment
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Seed treatment with Imidacloprid 600 FS @ 7 g/kg seed
- Carbofuran 3G @ 8 kg/ha in seed furrows at sowing
- Phorate 10 G @ 10 kg/ha in soil
- spray Carbaryl 50 WP @ 2 g/L at 7 days after emergence
- Cartap hydrochloride 50 SP @ 2 g/L
🛡️ Prevention
- Sow early (within 7-10 days of monsoon onset) to escape peak fly activity
- use resistant varieties (CSV 15, CSV 17)
- increase seed rate to compensate for plant loss
- practice crop rotation
- remove volunteer seedlings and wild grass hosts
- apply carbofuran in furrows at sowing
- use trap crops
- balanced fertilizer use
🪴 Affected plants
- Sorghum
- Pearl Millet
- Finger Millet
- Maize
- Wild Grasses (Poaceae)
🦋 Natural predators
- Spiders
- Predatory Bugs
- Carabid Beetles
- Parasitic Wasps (Trichogramma, Tetrastichus)
🌱 Host plants
- Sorghum bicolor
- Pennisetum glaucum
- Eleusine coracana
- Zea mays
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 25-60 eggs singly on the underside of seedling leaves.
- Eggs hatch in 2-3 days.
- Maggots feed inside the shoot for 7-12 days, passing through 3 instars.
- Pupation occurs in the soil or inside the damaged stem, lasting 6-10 days.
- Adults live 15-30 days.
- Total life cycle 17-25 days; 8-12 overlapping generations per year in tropical conditions.
📅 Season
- Active Jun-Oct during Kharif and Sep-Feb during Rabi sorghum, peak at 1-4 weeks after emergence
🔎 Appearance
- Small greyish-yellow flies resembling houseflies but much smaller, with dark spots on the abdomen.
- Larvae are yellowish-white maggots with a pointed front end, growing up to 8 mm, found feeding inside the central shoot of sorghum seedlings.
💥 Damage level
- High
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Fast
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- Africa
- Southeast Asia
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