BIO-CONTROL AGENTSANDBOTANICAL PRODUCTS FOR THE ECO-FRIENDLY MANAGEMENT OF STEM BORER ON HYBRID RICE

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from June to November, 2009 to find out the most effective management practice(s) among Trichogramma evanescens egg parasitoid @ 0.25 gm and 0.50 gm plot-1, Bacillus thuriengiensis bacterium suspension @ 0.1% and 0.2%, SafeClean @ 0.05%, SafeMax @ 0.05%, Neem oil @ 0.3% and chemical insecticide Furadan 5G @ 6 gm plot-1 for the eco-friendly management of rice stem borer on hybrid rice (Hira-2). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Considering the dead heart and white head infestation, among the treatments chemical insecticide Furadan 5G (T8) performed as the most effective practice in reducing the dead heart (81.47%) and white head (91.44%) infestation over control followed by Trichogramma egg parasitoid @ 0.50% (T2) treatment (73.64% and 82.34%, respectively). T8also gave the maximum yield contribution characters of the rice plants as well as produced the highest grain yield (7.67 ton ha-1) followed by T2 (7.23 ton ha-1). Economically the most effective treatment was T2, through which the highest benefit cost ratio (5.04) was achieved as compared with other treatments including Furadan 5G (3.80). Considering the ecological point of view, the T2 comprising Trichogramma evanescens egg parasitoid @ 0.50 gm plot-1 was the most ecologically sound management practice applied against rice stem borer.