Alka Kumari

The field trial conducted to evaluate the effect of weather parameters on incidence and abundance of rice leaf folder revealed that leaf damage due to leaf folder (LDLF) had positive correlation with temperature (both minimum and maximum), morning humidity and sunshine hours i. e. r = 0.180, 0.196, 0.338 and 0.483*, while negative correlation with evening humidity (r =-0.048), wind speed (r =-0.096), rainfall (r =-0.144) and no. of rainy days (r =-0.071). The climatic factors together were able to explain the variation in LDLF (%) during experimental period to the extent of 76.30 per cent the coefficient of determination (R 2) was found to be significant i.e. 0.7630.

A field experiment was conducted to screen out sixteen rice varieties against rice leaf folder at the research farm of Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi during Kharif season of 2019 and 2020. Out of sixteen varieties screened, Suraksha, C. R. Dhan 304, C.R. Dhan 201 and PAC-801 emerged as resistant and promising against the leaf folder, receiving leaf damage due to leaf folder (LDLF) incidence below 10 percent even when they were grown in unprotected conditions as against the significantly and substantially higher pest incidence (i.e. LDLF %) recorded in case of TN- 1 and Lalat receiving 33.38 (32.45 & 34.32 per cent LDLF) and 23.60 (22.25 & 24.95 per cent LDLF) during both years, respectively. Abhisek, C.R. Dhan 201, C.R. Dhan 304, PAC-801 and Suraksha were found resistant against the leaf folder incidence receiving incidence below 10 per cent. The genotypes IR-64 (Drt-1), BVD-203, Akshay Dhan, C.R. Dhan 303, Naveen, Vita-12, US- 362 and US-380 were moderately resistant.

A study was undertaken at little millet research plot of Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi during Kharif season of 2017, in order to ascertain the effect of different eco-friendly treatments comprising of cultural practices and neem based botanicals against shootfly infesting little millet i.e. variety Birsa Gundli 1. Cultural practices like 1.5 times of recommended seed rate and early sowing like 15 days before normal sowing were taken as treatments. And there were three botanicals and one chemical insecticides with control. Seed treatment with insecticide before the sowing the crop and one spray were applied of botanical in each treatment for which first spray was done at 7 days after germination of the crop and second was repeated after 15 days of first spray. Spraying of 1500 ppm neem /azadiractin application should be applied at seventh day after sowing which gave maximum grain yield and minimum incidence of shootfly. However, highest cost benefit ratio was obtained with seed treatment with chlorpyriphos 20 EC @ 2.5 ml/kg of seed. Introduction Little millet is cereal crop belongs to the grass family, Graminae or Poacea. The term "millet" is used to refer several types of small seeded annual grasses. In India, they are cultivated on an area of 131.7 thousand hectares with production of 0.4 million tonnes with a productivity of 578 kg per ha. India is the largest producer of many kinds of millets. However, realizing the nutrient composition of these crops they are now considered as nutri-cereals. Little millet is rich in nutrients and considered as essential food nutritional security and it is a good source of Protein (7.7g), very rich in carbohydrate (67.0g), Fat (4.79g), Calcium (17mg), phosphorus (220mg) and Iron (6.0mg) for each 100g. Shootfly is a dominant pest among several pests attacking the little millet (Jotwani and Sukhani, 1968) [5]. Nearly 32 per cent of the crop is lost due to insect pests in India (Borad and Mittal, 1983) [4]. Shoot flies (Atherigona pulla Wiede) ranks first among the insect pests that attacks little millet, often resulting in heavy loss in the crop yield (Anonymous, 1991) [1]. Vedamoorthy et al. (1965) [9] reported that foliar applications of carbaryl and endrin were much less effective in controlling shootfly than the seed and seed-furrow application of phorate and other insecticides. Mote and Jadhav (1993) reported that the extract of Azadiracta indica, Argemone mexicana and Calotropis gigantean were effective in reducing the level of shootfly in sorghum. Katole et al. (2000) [6] studied the performance of some IPM modules against H. armigera on chickpea. The efficacy of 5 per cent neem seed extract (NSE + 5% cow dung + 5% NSE + 5% cow dung + 5% cow urine, 5% NSE + 0.035% endosulfan, 5% NSE, 5% cow dung, 5% urine and 0.035% endosulfan were evaluated. Pooled data revealed that all the treatments except 5% cow dung and 5% cow urine were effective over the control. Treatment with 5% NSE + 0.035% endosulfan and 5% NSE alone gave the lowest pod damage (13.37 and 16.11%) and the highest average grain yields (8.40 and 7.77 q/ha). Spraying of neem leaf extract at 7 DAE was recorded 39.7 per cent dead hearts was on par with carbofuran 3G whorl application (35.0%) (Anonymous 2001) [2] .

A field trial was conducted at Rice Research Farm of Birsa Agricultural University, RAC (Ranchi Agriculture College) Kanke, Ranchi during Kharif season of 2017 on rice variety Bhadshah Bhog to evaluate the bio-efficacy of different botanical insecticides including untreated control against rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae. Two sprays at tweenty days interval of ten treatments with three replications were applied in the field. The obtained after each spray revealed that the botanical insecticidal treatments were significantly superior over control in reducing silver shoot infested by gall midge and efficacy was maximum in Neem Baan (Aza. 1.0% EC) @ 1000 ml/ha (4.71% SS) with maximum net profit of Rs. 21325 / ha with B:C ratio 8.5: 1. Neem Baan (Aza. 1.0% EC) could be responsible for realization of the highest grains yield (34.03q/ha) among all the tested botanical insecticides in the present studies. However, when all the treatments including the chemical insecticide, chlorpyriphos (@ 2000 ml/ha) are compared in the context of yield of grains, chlorpyriphos took the lead in the highest yield realization (38.95 q//ha) with net profit of Rs. 31950/ ha with B:C ratio7.7: 1.

A field trial was conducted at Rice Research Farm of Birsa Agricultural University, RAC (Ranchi Agriculture College) Kanke, Ranchi during Kharif season of 2017 on rice variety Swarna to evaluate the bio-efficacy of different insecticides including untreated control against rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae. Three sprays at fifteen days interval of ten treatments with three replications were applied in the field. The obtained after each spray revealed that the insecticidal treatments were significantly superior over control in reducing silver shoot infested by gall midge and efficacy was maximum in the ready mix combination product of flubendamide 240 SC plus thiacloprid 240 SC (i.e. 480 SC) applied as foliar spray @ 250 ml/ha which remained at par carbofuran 3G @ 30 kg at 15 DAT followed by two spray with monocrotophos 365L and @ 1.5 lit/ha at 30 and 45 DAT, rynxypyr 20SC@150 ml/ha, acephate 95 SG @530 g/ha applied at 530 g/ha. The highest grains yield of rice (54.50 q/ha) was obtained when granules of cardofuran 3G @ 3 kg/ha was applied at 15 DAT followed by two foliar sprays applied of monocrotophos 36 SL @ 1.5 lit at 30 and 45 DAT. Introduction Rice is the staple food for over half of the world's population. It holds the key to our country's ability to produce enough food for our people. It is primarily a high energy or high calorific food. Out of one dozen insect pests species prevailing in rice agro-ecosystem in the state of Jharkhand, half of a dozen of them are considered as major insect pests which are responsible for causing loss in yield ranging from 20-35 percent in general (Prasad and Prasad, 2006) [10] .Insect pest fauna cause yield loss of about 20-30% , while an average yield loss-span from 21-51% over large area. Among these major insect pest species, gall midge (Orseolia oryzaeWood Mason) is one of the most important pest which is capable of causing considerable loss in Jharkhand in general and gall midge endemic areas of the state in particular. The maggot of rice gall midge is responsible for causing gall formation in the central leaf sheath of rice which results in the formation of silver shoot , which later on can not bear panicles. As such , the pest could be able to cause loss in yield ranging from 10-25 % (Prasad and Prasad,2006) [10] in the state of Jharkhand under the favourable agro-climatic conditions. Infestation of rice gall midge can be managed by applying different chemical insecticides during growing season. In the current study, different conventional and newer insecticides were tasted against rice gall midge. The main purpose of this field experiment was to evaluate the most suitable insecticide that could significantly reduce the infestation of rice gall midge.

A field trial was conducted at little millet research plot of Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi during Kharif season of 2017, in order to screen out the resistant little millet genotypes against the shootfly, a total number of 19 genotypes i.e. DLM95, WV126, DLHLT28-4, OLM217, WV167, IIMR LM7012, OLM233, IIMR LM7162, TNPSu183, GPUL4(MLT9), TNPSu186, GPUL5 252, WV 125, RLM 37, RLM 367, JK 8, OLM 203 and BL 6 including the susceptible check BG 1, against shootfly. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The genotype IIMR LM7012 (10.78%) recorded the lowest percentage of plants bearing shootfly eggs and it remained at par with BG 1 (12.77%) which were however, not better than DLM95 (16.26%). The genotype IIMR LM7012 recorded the lowest deadhearts per cent and remained at par with BG 1, DLM95, OLM217, BL 6 and DLHLT28-4 in which the deadheart counts were 13.35, 14.02, 16.17, 17.42 and 17.65 per cent, respectively. the genotypes IIMR LM7012 though recorded significantly more productive tillers per plant (3.36) but remained at par with BG 1 (2.83), WV 125 (2.13), GPUL5 252 (2.16), OLM217 (2.23), TNPSu186 (2.26), BL 6 (2.30), and DLHLT28-4 (2.40). The genotypes IIMR LM7012 recorded significantly more productive tillers per plant (3.36) but remained at par with BG 1 (2.83), WV 125 (2.13), GPUL5 252 (2.16), OLM217 (2.23), TNPSu186 (2.26), BL 6 (2.30), and DLHLT28-4 (2.40). The genotypes IIMR LM7012 though recorded significantly more productive tillers per plant (3.36) but remained at par with BG 1 (2.83), WV 125 (2.13), GPUL5 252 (2.16), OLM217 (2.23), TNPSu186 (2.26), BL 6 (2.30), and DLHLT28-4 (2.40). And The cultivar OLM 203, with 27.31 per cent deadhearts, was considered to be the most susceptible one against shootfly.

During the studies on the insect pests succession revealed that a total of eight insect species were found associated with brinjal crop at different crop growth stages. The first attack on the crop appeared in the one week after transplantation and continued up to till crop harvested. Pests were found attacking on the crop were jassids (Amrasca biguttula biguttula), aphids(Aphis gossypii), white fly (Bemisia tabaci), leaf roller (Eublemma olivacae), shoot and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis), epilachna beetle (Epilachna vigintioctopunctata), leaf webber (Psara bipunctalis) and grass hopper(Chrotogonus spp.). Among them, brinjal shoot and fruit borer (L. orbonalis) was recorded as major pest. Jassids (A. biguttula biguttula Ishida), aphid (A. gossypii Glov.) and epilachna beetle (E. viginitioctopunctata F.) were found to damage the crop moderately. Other insects pests recorded on the crop were of less importance and extent of damage caused by them was found without much economic loss.

A field trial was conducted at Rice Research Farm of Birsa Agricultural University, RAC (Ranchi Agriculture College) Kanke, Ranchi during Kharif season of 2017 on rice variety TN-1 to monitor the incidence and abundance of rice gall midge in terms of percentage of silver shoot (SS%) caused by gall midge. silver shoot percent count was made at weekly interval starting from 14 th days after sowing. The result revealed that the peak incidence attained its peak (39% SS) with hill (plant) infestation in 39 th SMW (i.e. 24 th Sep to 30 th Sep). Silver shoot percent had significantly positive correlation with temperature (both minimum and maximum) while significantly negative correlation with sunshine hrs but RH (%), wind speed, rainfall, and no. of rainy days had non-significant correlation. The climate factors together able to explain the variation in SS% to the extent of 66.56% and coefficient of determination (R 2) found to be significant i.e. 0.6656. 1. Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the important cereal crop of the world and forms the staple food for more than 65% of staple of the world's population and known as king of cereals, nearly 90 percent of area, production and consumption of rice are confined to South East Asian countries [5]. It holds the key to our country's ability to produce enough food for our people. It is primarily a high energy or high calorific food. Out of one dozen insect pests species prevailing in rice agro-ecosystem in the state of Jharkhand, half of a dozen of them are considered as major insect pests which are responsible for causing loss in yield ranging from 20-35 percent in general (Prasad and Prasad, 2006) [8]. Among these major insect pest species, gall midge (Orseolia oryzae Wood Mason) is one of the most important pest which is capable of causing considerable loss in Jharkhand in general and gall midge endemic areas of the state in particular. The pest could be able to cause loss in yield ranging from 10-25% (Prasad and Prasad, 2006) [8] in the state of Jharkhand under the favourable agro-climatic conditions. The incidence and abundance of rice gall midge depends on both abiotic and biotic factors. Abiotic factors are weather parameters likes temperature (both maximum and minimum), RH (%), Wind speed, rainfall, no of rainy days and sunshine hrs etc. and biotic factors includes predators, parasite and parasitoids. In wet season, O. oryzae activity increased (91.3% infestation) in mid-September and high relative humidity played a crucial role in triggering and regulating O. oryzae density (Patnaik) [7]. It was also obtained that optimum conditions for this pest were found to be maximum temperatures in the range of 30.1-32.1 0 C, minimum temperatures in the range of 20.8-24 0 C and 90% RH [3]. Major active period of rice gall midge in the field was 36 th to 43 rd week (Standard meteorological week) [10]. The experiment was conducted to study the incidence and abundance of rice gall midge in terms of percentage of silver shoot (SS%) caused by gall midge in relation to abiotic factors.

A field trial was conducted at the Commercial Horticulture Unit of Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, and Ranchi during rabi season of 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, in order to monitor the incidence and abundance of leafhopper. The activity of leafhopper started soon after the transplanting. The serious activities were noticed from 34 th August 2016 to second January 2017. The highest leaf hopper number per leaf was found as (12.0/3 leaves) at maximum temperature and minimum temperature 24.6 O C and 4.8 o C, respectively. The correlation was found positive and highly significant (r=-0.666**) with maximum temperature (r=-0.666**) and (r =-0.536*) minimum temperature. The maximum relative humidity and minimum relative humidity was (r = 0.288) and (r =-0.096) respectively observed the positively non-significant and positively non-significant correlation with population of leafhopper. In the year 2017-18, the peak (11.6/ 3 leaves) activity of leafhoppers was recorded at 46 th SMW. The pest was active throughout the season with a fluctuation range of 0.0 to 11.6 aphid per three leaves. The abiotic factors together were able to explain up to the extent of 78-74 per cent population dynamics fluctuation in leafhopper.