Major Insect Pests of Sugarcane

Name of the pest	Scientific Name	Plant parts infested	Peak period of activity
Termites	Odentotermes obesus Ramb.	Cane setts, shoots and canes.	Active in all seasons severe under drought conditions.
Shoot borer	Chilo infuscatellus Snellen.	Young Shoots and during drough the internodes.	March-June
Top borer	Scirpophaga excerptalis Wlk.	Shoot and grown up canes	June - December
Root borer	Emmalocera depressella Swinhoe	Young plants	April - June
Leaf hopper	Pyrilla perpusilla Wlk.	Leaf and leaf sheath	Summers with moderate to high humidity low rainfall or March-October
Lygaeid bug or black bug	Cavelerius excavatus Dist.	Leaf whorl mostly ratoons	Pre mansoon period
Scale insect	Melanaspis glomerata (Green)	Internodes	May - December
Mealy bug	Saccharioccus sacchari Cockerell.	Nodal region	Throughout the year but severe under drought
White fly	Saccharioccus sacchari Cockerell.	Leaf	Well-manured and heavy crops or August-October
White grub	Hilotrichia consanguinea Blanch.	Roots, lower portion of stem covered by the soil	March to October (Mass emergence immediately after first heavy rain)