Study on varietal preferences and seasonal incidence of parasitoids of rice pests

The egg masses of yellow stem borer, larvae of leaf folder and rice horned caterpillar and eggs of ear head bug were collected randomly at fortnightly interval from four different varieties viz., CO 43, CO 50, CO 51 and CR 1009 from the rice field. The data was pooled and per cent parasitization was calculated to find out the varietal preference and seasonal variations of parasitoids. Among the four different varieties tested for the preference of parasitoids, per cent parasitization of stem borer egg mass was found to be more (26.59) in CO 50. The per cent parasitization of leaf folder larvae and rice horned caterpillar was found to be maximum in CO 51(40.29) and CO 43(33.21), respectively. In case of ear head bugs, the egg  parasitization was maximum (27.70) in CO 50. The mean egg mass parasitization of stem borer was highest (71.88) in first fortnight of December. The larval parasitization of leaf folder and rice horned caterpillar were found to be maximum during the second fortnight of December (64.3) and the first fortnight of January (71.88), respectively. The parasitism rate of ear head bug eggs was maximum (62.95) during the second fortnight of December. Interestingly, phoresy exhibited by Sceliocerdo sp. an egg parasitoid of Neorthacris sp. was also recorded.