Seasonal Incidence of Crambidae Pests on Summer Rice in Subtropical Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

The production and productivity of rice is constrained by various insect pests but very meagre information is available on the seasonal incidence of the Crambidae pests of rice in the subtropical region of Madhya Pradesh. The present study was undertaken on the seasonal incidence of Crambidae pests at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, College of Agriculture, Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh during January -May, 2022. Rice variety JRB-1 was sown in a 300 m2 plot, damage of pests were recorded and correlated with the weather data. Stem borer damage manifested in the form of deadhearts and white ears, started from second fortnight of February and gradually increased till late April. Leaf folder incidence was observed from early March to early April. Incidence of these were found to be correlated positively with temperature and wind velocity whereas, negatively with relative humidity and rainfall. The pattern of incidence of these pests of rice in the subtropical region of central India (Balaghat, MP) were more or less similar to those of the tropics.