2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The rice weevil is a harmful insect that was first accidentally discovered in distant India. But now it can be found literally everywhere, however, on the territory of the Russian Federation, this pest inhabits mainly the southern regions. Despite the fact that the weevil is still rice, it also attacks crops such as corn with wheat, rye with barley, buckwheat with hemp seed, as well as barley with millet, beans, etc
Meet the pest
The rice weevil is a bug that can range in size from 23 to 35 mm. All pests are endowed with a black-brown or dark brownish matte body, equipped with a thin rostrum. On the rough elytra of voracious weevils, one can notice a couple of red spots and several rough dotted grooves. As for the pronotum, they look exactly the same as the elytra. Angry weevils fly excellently - well-developed hind wings contribute to this.
The eggs of harmful parasites are pear-shaped or round in shape and are painted in whitish tones with a slight grayish tint. To protect the eggs from possible damage, female voracious weevils make tiny holes in the seeds of plants. And then they plug the gnawed holes with small plugs, consisting of their own secretions. The total fertility of each female in this case is from two to three hundred eggs.
About five to fourteen days after laying the eggs, hungry larvae begin to appear. More precise timing of their appearance is in direct proportion to the level of humidity and air temperature. In the larval stage, harmful parasites stay for about three weeks. The developing larvae actively feed on rice grains, which serve for them not only food, but also a reliable shelter. Their pupation also takes place there, and for another four to six days the weevils are in the pupal stage.
In general, under normal conditions, all weevils go through the entire development cycle (eggs - larvae - pupae - adult bugs) in about thirty days. And the life expectancy of adults is on average about one hundred to one hundred and eighty days.
In addition to rice and a wide variety of other cereals, rice weevils can be found in some products, for example, in pasta or flour, as well as in dried fruits and dried baked goods. Both tiny larvae and adults do almost the same harm. True, in grain crops they try to choose only broken, wet and damaged grains for eating and subsequent egg-laying - whole and dry grains are extremely unattractive to them.
It is noteworthy that the contamination of grain crops can be observed at all stages of their development. Harmful weevils can easily populate them even in the field, and then they will continue to multiply already in storage facilities.
Crops affected by rice weevils often lose 35 to 75 percent of their total crop weight.
How to fight
As a rule, in order to combat rice weevils, aerosol disinfestation or wet treatment with special preparations is carried out - these measures allow not only to prevent attacks of new pests, but also to get rid of existing ones. For wet treatments, such products as "Fufanon", "Decis", "Aktellik", as well as "Karbofos" or "Karate" are perfect. Crop storage sites should be treated with these products in their entirety, spending about 50 ml of salvage solution for each square meter of surface.
And in order to make the seeds less attractive to pests, they must be carefully prepared for long-term storage. To this end, they are dried, trying to achieve a humidity indicator of 15% (for too long storage - 13-14%). And when the crop is thoroughly dried, it must be cleaned of all kinds of weeds and all damaged seeds.
Recommended:
How To Store Rice Properly
Rice is one of the favorite foods. This nourishing and very useful product is eaten by a good half of the people on our planet. Of course, you always want to stock it up for future use. And so that harmful worms, bugs or other equally nasty living creatures do not unexpectedly start in rice, it is important to learn how to store it correctly. Under good conditions, rice can lie for quite a long time, and at the same time it will not lose either its taste or its nutritional properties
Gluttonous Redcurrant Aphid
Redcurrant aphids live almost everywhere and, in addition to red currants, they also damage black and white. Sometimes roses and gooseberries also suffer from her attacks. Particularly severe damage can be seen towards the end of July. The tissues damaged by parasites grow strongly, and the leaf blades protrude noticeably, and the appearance of swelling is noted on them. For a year, the harmful red currant aphid is capable of producing several generations (mainly four to five), which has a very negative effect
Gluttonous Black Beet Weevil
The black beet weevil lives mainly in the southern forest-steppe regions and in the steppe. It damages about one hundred and thirty species of various plants. These include beets, cabbage, sunflowers, annual and perennial legumes, strawberries, hemp and other crops. Beetles devour young leaves and cotyledons with appetite, and harmful larvae cause significant harm to root crops, gnawing small roots
Coastal Fly - Rice Lover
The coastal fly on the territory of Russia lives mainly in the steppe zone. This pest is a big lover of rice, developing in three generations per season. In this case, the greatest harm is caused by the larvae of the first generation. They usually harm from the moment tiny shoots appear and up to the stage of their full tillering. At the same time, damaged crops often float to the water surface. Coastal flies are most harmful in late crops and in fields with sufficiently high soil salinity
Gluttonous Gray Bristly Weevil
The gray bristly weevil most often lives in the forest-steppe zone, and a little less often it can be found in the steppe. This pest damages mainly perennial and year-old legumes: lentils with beans and clover, as well as sainfoin and sweet clover with peas. He will not refuse to feast on alfalfa with lupine, as well as some other wild legumes. Attacks of gray bristly weevils often lead to the complete destruction of leaves on the stairs of a huge number of beans
