Survey of shoot fly incidence on kharif sorghum in Western Vidarbha

Sorghum shoot fly is one of the most important and destructive pests which causes considerable losses in fodder as well as grain yield. In order to mitigate these losses and perform specific management techniques, peculiar location wise damage of shoot fly has to be known, for that purpose this study was conducted during Kharif 2023. The investigation was carried out in sorghum fields among five districts of Western Vidarbha viz., Akola, Buldhana, Washim, Amravati and Yavatmal. Data on dead heart percent of shoot fly showed that the highest dead heart percent was observed in Washim district i.e. 26.24% followed by 19.85% dead heart formation in Akola, 19.22% dead heart formation in Buldhana, 18.32% dead heart formation in Amravati, 12.87% dead heart formation in Yavatmal. This data showed that in all the surveyed districts of Western Vidarbha shoot fly damage was observed above the economic threshold level. The overall mean dead heart percent of surveyed locations in Western Vidarbha recorded 19.3% that is also above economic threshold level.