Seasonal Incidence of Maize Stem Borer-Record of New Stage and Site of Oviposition of Sesamia inferens

A field experiment on seasonal incidence of stem borers in corn was conducted at Maize Research Centre, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. Undertaking sowings at monthly intervals from Jan 2013 to Dec 2013 in an area of 150 m² as a replicated trial. DHM 117 hybrid was sown in ridge and furrow method at 75x20 cm spacing. Random destructive sampling was done twice at 30 and 60 DAG @ 4 plants per replication to quantify the genera wise stem borer larval population and also stem tunneling. Observations on stem borer incidence and yield were recorded. Data was subjected to arcsine and square ischolar_main transformation and two way analysis was conducted. It is evident from the results that among the monthly sowings, September and February are subjected to severe stem borer attack, however, low yields are observed in summer. Hence, it is advisable to take up sowings in July during Kharif and in November during Rabi to obtain maximum yields with low stem borer incidence.