Credits: Biovision-Infonet
General information
The most important pests of pigeon peas are insects feeding on pigeon pea pods and seeds.
Surveys in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda (Minja et al., 1999) have shown that the most important pests of pigeon pea pods and seeds in the region are:
- pod sucking bugs,
- pod and seed boring caterpillars,
- pod flies
Varieties that mature during the dry season have low damage levels (Snapp et al., 2003).
A number of caterpillars (e.g. hairy caterpillars and semiloopers), and beetles (e.g. weevils, and foliage beetles) that feed on foliage of other legumes and grain legumes also attack pigeon peas, but they are usually not important.