The diamondback moth is the most destructive insect pest of cabbage throughout the world. It is a small, greyish-brown, night-flying moth with a one inch wingspan. When at rest, the moth holds its wings together, roof-like, over its back. When in this position, a pattern of three diamond-shaped spots can be seen along the top of the moth’s body. The adults are active at dusk and throughout the night. During the day, moths will fly from their resting places if plants are disturbed. The adult is a small moth about 10 – 12 mm long. The male moth is dark brown with three white diamond-shaped patterns aligned on its back. The female moth is tan coloured and its diamond patterns are less distinct than those of the male. Female moths lay eggs singly or in small clusters on stems and both sides of the leaves. A female moth may lay more than 150 eggs during her lifetime. Eggs are pale yellow and 0.5 mm long. The caterpillars are grey-green with a dark head in the first three stages and green with a green-brown head in the last growth stage. Caterpillars grow to approximately 12 mm in length. The small caterpillars (up to 3∕8 inch long at maturity) are pointed at both ends and range in color from cabbage green to yellow. When disturbed, larvae rapidly wiggle their bodies back and forth, often causing them to fall off plants.

Damage :Diamondback moth eat many small holes in the leaves of the host plants, often leaving the leaf epidermis intact, making a ‘feeding window’. Most damage is caused by the caterpillars tunnelling into the heads of cabbage. Larvae feed on cole crop leaves between the large veins and midribs. They prefer to feed on the lower leaf surface, leaving the upper epidermis intact thereby creating a “window-paning” effect. Severe feeding damage will stunt cabbage and cauliflower heads. Larval damage to the developing buds on young cabbages can cause heads to abort. In the pod stages, when leaves dry up, larvae move to stems and pods, where they remove surface tissue. The seeds within a damaged pod will not fill completely, and pods may shatter, resulting in yield loss. Larvae may also chew into pods and eat the developing seeds. In prairie fields under severe attack by diamondback moth, yield losses can be extreme.

Solution :As we know diamondback moth is the most destructive pest of cabbage, farmers are facing great yield lose because of this pest. For the protection of cabbage crop, HPM Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd., manufactured many world class product and Hindustan Vardaan is one of them. It is a emulsifiable concentrate formulation. Vardan is a contact and stomach poisonous. It is recommended to control diamondback moth hispa, leaf roller, gall midge, stem borer of Paddy, aphid, bollworm, whitefly & cut worm of cotton and insects of vegetables, fruits. It is also used to control termite in building, wood and seed treatment & soil treatment. With complete crop solution products HPM, is passionate about transforming farmers’ lives. We are courageous in both decision and action. And we believe that good agriculture means a better country.