When colonies develop over most of the leaf surface, the entire leaf is killed. Usually lower leaves are most severely damaged. Integrated Pest Management Integrated pest management is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health and environmental risks. There are several factors to consider in developing an integrated pest management program for greenbugs on sorghum, including resistant varieties, planting date, crop residue, natural controls, and insecticides. Tolerance refers to the ability of a plant to survive the presence of pests and yield as well as a susceptible plant grown in the absence of pests.
Antibiosis refers to factors in a plant which reduce the survival, growth or reproduction of a pest.
Under natural conditions, resistant hybrid plants become infested with greenbugs, but they are not damaged to the same degree as genetically similar susceptible hybrid plants. Resistant hybrids may tolerate the aphids better, reduce the rate of increase of the greenbug population, suffer less damage, and generally yield more than susceptible hybrids. Yield increases have been obtained when insecticides are applied to either susceptible or resistant sorghums infested with greenbugs at economic levels. Resistant hybrids possess a marked advantage for sorghum growers who do not treat for greenbugs. Planting resistant hybrids should reduce the probability of greenbugs destroying a newly-emerged field or materially reducing yields.