Insect Pests of Seed Spices and Their Management

Seed spice crops are infested by many insect pests that cause significant losses in the field as well as in storage. Among the various insect pests associated with seed spice crops, sucking pests comprise of the largest group and cause maximum damage to these crops in the field. Among the sucking pests, aphids are a major yield-limiting biotic factor on seed spice crops; other important sucking insect pests associated with these crops include thrips, jassids, hopper, whitefly, and Lygus bug. Seed wasp is an important pest both in field and storage and is an important quarantine pest. A few defoliators also occur on these crops but their damage is relatively less. During storage, pests like cigarette beetle and drugstore beetle cause major damage to the produce.