Busseola fusca facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Busseola fusca |
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| Busseola Fusca | |
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Busseola
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B. fusca
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| Busseola fusca (Fuller, 1901)
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The Busseola fusca is a type of moth often called the maize stalk borer. It is found in places like Ethiopia. This moth is a pest because its young, called caterpillars, cause a lot of damage to important crops like maize (corn).
Adult moths are usually pale brown and have a wingspan of about 35–40 millimeters (which is about 1.5 inches).
The caterpillars are the ones that cause trouble. They can be light or dark violet to pinkish-white and grow to be about 1 to 2.5 centimeters long. These caterpillars first feed inside the young leaves of plants. You can see their damage as yellowish or dying leaf centers. Later, they bore tunnels into the plant stems. If you cut open a stem, you can see these tunnels. They can even tunnel into the grains themselves.
When caterpillars feed, they can kill the growing tips of the plant. They can also carry tiny fungi (a type of mold) called Fusarium to the maize cobs. These fungi can make harmful substances called mycotoxins. If farmers do not control these stalk borers, they can lose a lot of their maize crop, sometimes between 20% to 100%.
These caterpillars like to eat many different grasses. They also feed on important crops like Zea mays (corn), Sorghum, and Saccharum species (like sugarcane).
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What Damage Does It Cause?
You can often spot the first signs of stalk borers by finding small holes or 'windows' in straight lines across the newest leaves of maize or sorghum plants. The eggs of the moth are tiny, about 1 millimeter, and are creamy white or yellowish. They are usually found on the underside of leaves and get darker as they get ready to hatch.
As more caterpillars infest the plants, you might see other problems. These include weak stems, damage to the parts of the plant that are growing, and the plant not being able to flower. Sometimes, the center of the plant might even die, which is called a "dead heart."
Stalk borers make holes and feed inside the stems of plants. This stops water and nutrients from moving properly through the plant. This can make the plants grow much smaller than they should. It can also cause the maize cobs to be up to 30% smaller than normal.
How to Manage Stalk Borers
Farmers use different ways to manage these pests and protect their crops.
Preventing Problems
One way to avoid serious damage is to plant crops early in the season. Also, adding nitrogen to the soil can help plants become stronger and better able to handle an attack. Nitrogen can come from special products, animal manure, or compost.
Farmers can also increase nitrogen in the soil by rotating their crops. This means planting maize or sorghum in one season, and then planting a non-host crop like cowpea in the next season. Non-host crops are plants that the stalk borers do not eat. This method also helps stop too many pests from building up in the field.
The Ministry of Agriculture in Zambia works with a program called Plantwise. They suggest that after harvest, farmers should break up the stems by ploughing or harrowing the fields. This exposes the caterpillars to natural enemies and bad weather, which can reduce the number of pests for the next season. However, if there are no B. fusca pests left, they suggest leaving the plant remains. This helps improve the soil and keeps water in the ground. They also recommend destroying any other plants that B. fusca might live on, like wild sorghum. It is also important not to plant other crops that are hosts for B. fusca in rotation.
Using Push-Pull Crops
Plantwise and their partners from Self Help Africa suggest a special farming method called 'push-pull'. In this system, farmers plant two other types of plants along with maize or sorghum.
- Push Plant: They plant Desmodium between the rows of maize. Desmodium is a type of fodder legume, which means it is a plant that animals can eat. Stem borer moths do not like the smell of Desmodium, so it "pushes" them away from the maize. Desmodium also helps stop soil from washing away and can be mixed back into the soil to make it healthier.
- Pull Plant: Around the edges of the maize field, farmers plant Napier grass. Stem borer moths really like Napier grass, so it "pulls" them away from the maize. The moths lay their eggs on the Napier grass instead of the maize. When the eggs hatch, the caterpillars bore into the grass. But the Napier grass produces a sticky substance that traps and kills the caterpillars.
Napier grass also gives off smells that attract the natural enemies of the stem borer. Plus, Napier grass is good food for livestock, and its roots help prevent soil erosion.
Both Desmodium and Napier grass can be harvested regularly. Farmers can use them as feed for their animals.
Controlling Existing Pests
If pests are already present, farmers can use different control methods.
One simple method is to apply ash or dry soil. Farmers can put about one teaspoon of ash or soil into the leaf-funnel of young plants. This is done before any symptoms of damage appear.
Biological control methods use living things to fight the pests. For example, farmers have released tiny parasitic wasps, like Cotesia flavipes or Xanthopimpla stemmator. These wasps lay their eggs inside the caterpillars, which then kills the caterpillars.
Chemical control methods, using special sprays or substances, can also be used to control B. fusca. However, the rules for using these chemicals can be different in various countries.
