This article is reprinted from: People’s Daily Online – Yunnan Channel
The mouth of the paper cup, a smoke caterpillar slightly thinner than chopsticks, squirmed nervously along the mouth of the paper cup. Behind him, a light-brown prong-horned stink bug lowered his body, his six tiny legs jumped upside down, quickly chasing after the smoke caterpillar in front of him.
The pronghorn casting cup. Photo by Deng Chuyu
After a circle and a half along the mouth of the paper cup, the smoke caterpillar was exhausted and was chased by the pronghorn stink bug. Seeing the right time, the pronged horned worm rushed forward, grabbed the smoke caterpillar with a pair of thin legs in front, and then plunged its mouthparts into the smoke caterpillar’s body. The smoke caterpillar shivered in pain, and wrapped the pronghorn stinkbug with its body and fell from the mouth of the paper cup to the ground. After a while, the smoke caterpillar stopped moving.
The above scene is a video image taken by the Tobacco Leaf Workstation in Chake Town, Jianshui County, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan Province, when the pronghorn beetle was cast to control the tobacco caterpillar.
Tobacco caterpillars are the larvae of the tobacco armyworm, which not only harms flue-cured tobacco, but also harms various crops such as corn and vegetables. In the instar stage, tobacco caterpillars have strong resistance to pesticides that meet the national green control standards. Due to the difficulty of prevention and control and the gluttony, the villagers hated it.
In order to further enrich the green prevention and control measures, in June this year, the Honghe Prefecture Tobacco Monopoly Bureau piloted and promoted the technology of preventing and controlling tobacco caterpillars in Chake Town and other tobacco towns.
“The pronghorn stink bug is a predatory bug, the natural enemy of lepidopteran insects, including the worm, and is harmless to crops. After catching the worm, it pierces the insect with its mouthparts. The body sucks body fluids, and then kills the tobacco caterpillar.” said Liu Chunming, senior agronomist at the Technology Center of the Honghe Prefecture Tobacco Monopoly Bureau.
In recent years, thanks to the efforts of agricultural plant protection science and technology workers, the artificial breeding of the pronghorn has been realized, which has laid a solid foundation for the large-scale promotion of this green prevention and control technology of “pest control”. “The pronghorn bugs that were cast in Chake Town this time were introduced from other places.” Liu Chunming introduced.
Under normal circumstances, the adult lifespan of S. pronghorn is about 1 month. When the conditions are suitable, they can breed in the wild by themselves, and then realize the alternation of generations, and kill the tobacco caterpillar by geometric orders of magnitude.
In Luoshuidong Village, Chake Town, the flue-cured tobacco is planted in contiguous fields. At intervals, you can find a paper cup under the tobacco plant that casts pronghorn bugs. If you look closely, there is nothing in the paper cup. Insects, “This shows that the pronghorn bugs have been preying on everywhere.” Puchun, deputy head of the Chake Tobacco Leaf Workstation, said that this year, the town of Chake will be piloted in 144 acres. “Each paper cup has 20 pronghorn bugs, which can Effectively protect 1 mu of flue-cured tobacco from pests such as tobacco caterpillars.”
“The technician said that this bug is related to the common ‘stink bug’ here. Pesticides cannot be used for 20 days before and after the insect is released. We understand the rationale. How can people treat them badly when they come to help kill the tobacco caterpillars.” Li Youfu, a major flue-cured tobacco grower in Luoshuidong Village, said jokingly. (Deng Chuyu)