Monitoring of yellow stem borer, Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker) using pheromone trap and light trap along with determination of field incidence in kharif rice

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.