Black bug is one of the pest in the rice field that gives problems to the farmers. It will reduce your production because it will eat the sap of the rice plant and its urine will cause a rice burn. According to the expert ten adults per hill can cause losses of up to 35% in some rice. So how we can control, if not, reduce the effect of black bug? This is the suggested methods given to us by the expert:
One of the cultural control practices to reduce the population of the black bug is to maintain a clean field by removing the weeds and drying the rice field during plowing. Rice varieties of the same maturity date may be planted to break the insect’s cycle. Direct-seeded rice crops tend to have less tillers in one planting point and thus discourage population growth. During early infestation, the water level in the field may be raised for 2-3 days to force the insects to move upwards. Flooding the fields can also cause higher egg mortality. After harvest, fields might be plowed to remove remaining insects.
Mechanical control measures include the use of mercury bulbs as light traps for egg-laying adults. Light trapping of insects should start 5 days before and after the full moon.
In the field, there are biological control agents such as small wasps that parasitize the eggs. Ground beetles, spiders, crickets, and red ants attack the eggs, nymphs, and adults. Both the eggs and the nymphs are fed-upon by coccinellid beetles. Ducks and toads also eat the nymphs and adults. There are 3 species of fungi attacking the nymphs and adults.
Two IRRI varieties resistant to black bugs are available.
For chemical control, foliar spraying of insecticides directed at the base of the rice plant is the most effective.
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