STEM BORER (Scirpophaga incertulas) OF PADDY.

Stem Borer (Scirpophaga incertulas)

1. Name of Pest: Stem Borer (Scirpophaga incertulas).

Six species of stem borer attack rice. These are the yellow stemborer, white stemborer, striped stem borer, gold-fringed stem borer, dark-headed striped stem borer, and the pink stem borer.

Among the stem borers, the pink stem borer is less important. It is polyphagous and prefers sugarcane to rice.

2. Host plants:    Oryza sativa (rice)

3. When it occurs: 

Mostly important pest of summer paddy. attack found any stage of the plant from seedling to maturity.Most injurious from March to April end (4 times during the year).

The stem borer larvae bore at the base of the plants during the vegetative stage. On older plants, they bore through the upper nodes and feed toward the base.High nitrogenous field favors population buildup of the stem borers. Fields planted later favors more damage by the insect pests that have built up in fields that have been planted earlier. Stubble that remains in the field can harbor stem borer larvae and pupae.

The yellow stem borer is a pest of deepwater rice. It is found in aquatic environments where there is continuous flooding.

Striped stem borer is most abundant in temperate countries and in non-flooded areas. Their final instars remain dormant in temperate areas during winter.

4. What does it do: 

Larvae feed upon tillers and causes dead hearts or drying of the central tiller, during vegetative stage; and causes whiteheads at reproductive stage (panicle initiation to milk grain) . As a result, the panicle is unfilled and whitish in color.The larval feeding known as dead heart. Damage at the reproductive stage causes ear devoid of grain, which is known as white head.

damage may cause death of the central leaf whorl at the vegetative stage, which is

5. Damage Symptoms: 

• Dead hearts and whiteheads symptoms may sometimes be confused with damage caused by rats, neck blast, and black bug diseases.

• To confirm stem borer damage, visually inspect rice crop for dead hearts in the vegetative stages and whiteheads in reproductive stages. Stems can be pulled and dissected for larvae and pupae for confirmation of stem borer damage.

• Show “dead hearts” (dead leaves) and “whiteheads”(panicles with unfilled grains) in the field.

• Dead Hearts or dead tillers that can be easily pulled from the base during the vegetative stages

• Whiteheads during reproductive stage where the emerging panicles are whitish and unfilled or empty.

• Show very small holes on the stems and tillers.

6. Management Practice:

 I. Cultural Methods:

• Use resistant varieties Like IR-36, Sashyshri,Savita,Lalat,Mandira,Jogen,Purnendu etc.

• Clip the seedling tips before transplanting to eliminate egg masses and collect and destroy the egg masses in main field

• Before transplanting, cut the leaf-top to reduce carry-over of eggs from the seedbed to the field

• Destruction of stubbles after harvest (Do not burn).

• Apply nitrogen fertilizer in split following the recommended rate and time of application.

II. Biological Methods:

• Encourage biological control agents:like :ants, lady beetles, staphylinid beetles,gryllidae, green meadow grasshopper, and mirid, phorid and platystomatidae flies,ladybird beetles, chloropidae fly,gerrid and pentatomid bugs, ants, and mites,earwigs,bird,asilid fly, vespid wasps, dragonflies, damselflies, and spiders etc.

• Spray Azadirachtin 1% EC(10000 PPM ) @ 3 Ml / Lit Of Water.

III. Mechanical and Physical Methods:(Trap Methods):

• In the stem-borer endemic areas, install pheromone traps with 5 mg lure @ 8 traps/ha for pest monitoring and 20 traps/ha for direct control through mass trapping .

• Use Light trap.

IV. Chemical Methods:

• Flubendiamide 0.7% GR (Zygant) @ applied between 15 to 25 days after transplanting at 5 kg / acre dose in the main field.

• Spray Cartap 50 WP @ 800 g/ha or Chlorpyriphos 20 EC @ 2,000 ml/ha or Quinalphos 25 EC @ 1,600 ml/h

• Apply Fipronil 0.3 % G @ 3 Kg /Acre or Carbofuran 3% G @ 8-9 Kg / Acare Or Cartap Hydrochloride 4% G @ 8-9 Kg / Acre or Chlorpyriphos 10% G @ 4 Kg / Acre or Chlorantraniliprole 0.4 % G @ 4 Kg /acre .

• Recommended For Spray Chlorpyriphos 20% Ec @ 2.5 Ml / Lit Of Water

• Recommended For Spray Fipronil 5% Sc @ 1 Ml / Liter Of Water.

• Recommended For Spray Cartap Hydrochloride 50% Sp @ 1 Gm / Lit Of Water.

• Recommended For Spray Flubendiamide 20% Wdg @ 1 gm / 4 Lit Of Water.(Takumi)or Flubendiamide 39.35% Sc @ 1 Ml / 5 Lit Of Water.

• Recommended For Spray Lambda Cyhalothrin 5% Ec @ 1 Ml / 2 Lit Of Water. (Karate,reeva 5,warrior,scorpio) or Lambda Cyhalothrin 2.5 % Ec @ 1 Ml / Liter Of Water. (Kung-fu,reeva,lock,judo,ninja,samurai)

• Recommended For Spray Thiacloprid 21.7 % Sc @ 1 Ml / 3 Lit Of Water. (Alanto,splendor)

• Recommended For Spray Thiamethoxam 25% Wg @ 1 Gm / 2 Liter Of Water (Ektara, click, renova,evident,extra Super).

• Recommended For Spray Acephate 75% SP @ 1.5gm / 2 Lit Of Water. (Asataf,starthane,lancer,luc) Or Acephate 95 % SG @ 1.5 Gm / 2 Lit Of Water. (Hunk)

• Recommended For Spray Acephate 50% + Imidacloprid 1.8% (51.8% Sp) @ 2.5 Gm / Lit Of Water. (Lancer Gold,Acemida) or

• Spray Acephate 5% + Imidacloprid 1.1% (6.1% Ec) @ 2.5 Ml / Lit Of Water. (Lancer Gold).