Incidence of Rice Blue Beetle (Leptispa pygmaea Baly) and their Natural Enemies Under Rainfed Ecosystem of Uttara Kannada District

Incidence of Rice Blue Beetle (Leptispa pygmaea Baly) and their Natural Enemies Under Rainfed Ecosystem of Uttara Kannada District

Among the five taluks of different agro ecosystem surveyed viz., Sirsi, Siddapura, Kumta, Honnavara and Mundgod, the highest blue beetle incidence was noticed in Mundgod taluk and the least in Honnavara taluk. During kharif season the incidence of L. pygmaea ranged from 1.05 to 1.08, 0.56 to 0.66, 0.57 to 0.62, 0.41 to 0.44 and 1.15 to 1.26 blue beetle population per hill with per cent leaf damage of 3.92 to 7.59, 4.66 to 6.19, 3.38 to 5.27, 4.67 to 4.99 and 5.38 to 6.66 in Sirsi, Siddapura, Kumta, Honnavara and Mundgod, respectively. The mean population of natural enemies viz., spider, coleoptera, odonata and unidentified predator was 0.43, 0.20, 0.28 and 0.07 adults/hill in Uttara Kannada district.