Diversity and Relative Abundance of Insect Pests and Natural Enemies in Bacillus Treated Rice

A field experiment was conducted at Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad to decipher diversity and relative abundance of insect pests, Hemipteran predators and Hymenopteran parasitoids in Bacillus treated rice crop during Rabi, 2020. Yellow pan traps, visual count, yellow sticky traps, sweep net and D-net methods were used for collecting insect specimens. A total of 777 individuals of pests belonging to 11 families, 920 predators belonging to 14 families and 3587 parasitoids belonging to 15 families were collected. The highest relative abundances of pests, predator and parasitoids were reported for families Cicadellidae (34.36%), Miridae (66.96%) and Eulophidae (53.28%) respectively. Visual counting for pests (43%) and predators (38%) and yellow sticky traps for parasitoids (89.66%) were found to be most effective methods of collection. The total abundance of natural enemies was found far higher than the pest individuals, this suggesting natural control of pests in the Bacillus treated rice crop kept the pest population under check.