Abstract:
The insect, Scirpophaga incertulas commonly known as yellow stem borer (YSB) of rice is distributed widely, covering almost
all the Asian countries. YSB usually occupied more than 90 per cent of the borer populations in the rice crop from seedling to
maturity stage of the crop. Their infestation caused “dead heart” at the tillering stage and “white ear head” at reproductive
stage resulting a yield loss of about 10-60 per cent. Pest surveillance is the most important and integral part of IPM programme
which involves direct measurement of pest development in terms of either population or damage at regular intervals. Light trap
and pheromone trap are the convenient tools to monitor adult moth population of YSB in rice. The present investigation was
undertaken at RRS, Chinsurah to monitor the population fluctuation of YSB using light trap and pheromone trap in kharif rice
during 2010 and 2011. The experimental result revealed that the YSB population reaches its peak during November 3-4th week
and maximum dead heart incidence was recorded between 3rd and 4th week of September whereas, the peak white heads was
noticed between 1st and 2nd week of November.
