Effect of Ecological Engineering on Incidence of Key Rice Pests

Incidence of rice pests like white backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera, leaf folder Cnaphalocrocis medinalis, whorl maggot Hydrellia sasakii and stem borers - yellow stem borer Scirpophaga incertulas and the pink stem borer Sesamia inferens were studied in ecologically engineered rice fields during kharif 2019 and 2020. The WBPH population significantly reduced in fields planted with mixture of crop and flowering plants (0.66 ± 0.25 and 0.83 ± 0.44 WBPH/hill) during kharif 2019 and 2020, respectively. Rice plots planted with crops and flowering plants had lowest leaf folder damage in both the seasons (0.64 ± 0.11% and 0.54 ± 0.35%). Similarly, whorl maggot damage in mixture of crop and flowering plants found significantly reduced than control plots in both the seasons. Reduced pest activity in ecologically engineered fields significantly increased rice yield, particularly in rice plots planted with crops and flowering plants (5.60 ± 0.24 and 5.27 ± 0.06 mt/ ha). Study revealed that planting of crop and flowering plants around the rice field increased the natural enemy activity and reduced incidence of rice pests which eventually reduced the yield losses caused by insect pests and increased the rice grain yield.