Diversity and Relative Abundance of Insect Pests and Natural Enemies in Organic Rice

A study was conducted to decipher diversity and relative abundance of insect pests, hemipteran predators and hymenopteran parasitoids in organic rice transplanted at the research farm of the Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during Rabi, 2020. Yellow pan traps, visual count, yellow sticky traps, sweep net and D-net methods were used for collecting insect specimens. A total of 543 insect pest individuals belonging to 12 families, 678 Hemipteran predators belonging to 9 families and 2193 parasitoids of 10 families were collected. The most abundant families among insect pests, predators and parasitoids were Cicadellidae, Miridae and Eulophidae with a relative abundance of 32.41, 81.56 and 72.55%, respectively. Shannon weiner index of insect pests, predators and parasitoids was 1.81, 0.72 and 0.99 respectively. Further, Margelef diversity index of insect pests, predators and parasitoids was 1.75, 1.23 and 1.43, respectively. Furthermore, the Pielou’s eveness index was 0.73, 0.33 and 0.40, respectively. Visual count for pests, yellow sticky traps for predators and parasitoids were adjudged the most effective methods of collection.