Striga hermonthica Striga hermonthica Striga hermonthica, commonly known as purple witchweed or giant witchweed, is a hemiparasitic plant that belongs to the family Orobanchaceae. It is devastating to major crops such as sorghum ("Sorghum bicolor") and rice ("Oryza sativa"). In sub-Saharan Africa, apart from sorghum and rice, it also infests maize ("Zea mays"), pearl millet ("Pennisetum glaucum"), and sugar cane ("Saccharum officinarum"). "Striga hermonthica" has undergone horizontal gene transfer from "Sorghum" to its nuclear genome. The "S. hermonthica" gene, "ShContig9483", is most like a "Sorghum bicolor" gene, and additionally shows significant but lesser similarity to a gene from "Oryza sativa". It shows
Saluria inficita the plants show dried up shoots and turn yellow. Damage can controlled by hand picking, pheromone usage, light traps and usage of chemical insecticides such as carabaryl, methyl parathion, phosphomidon or dimethoate. Saluria inficita Saluria inficita, the white stem borer, is a moth of the family Pyralidae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1863. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. Its caterpillars are pests of "Eleusine coracana", "Oryza sativa", "Setaria italica" and "Zea mays". The adult has brownish wings. A pale white band runs along the margin of forewings. Hindwings white. The caterpillar is whitish