Naveenkumar B. Patil

National Rice Research Institute · Crop Protection Division

Rice is stored for a longer time and many primary and secondary insect pests attack grains, causing both quantitative and qualitative losses. Physicochemical characteristics of grain influence stored grain insect susceptibility and resistance. Identification of gene/Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) and introgression in the cultivars would provide the...

Rhyzopertha dominica F. (lesser grain borer) is an important primary pest of stored rice that causes substantial economic loss. This pest developed resistance to a wide range of hazardous chemical pesticides due to its great degree of adaptability. This study proposed to prepare Vitex negundo oil nanoemulsion (VNO NE) to improve its efficacy agains...

Scirpophaga incertulas Walker (Lepidoptera: Crambidae, yellow stem borer, YSB) is a monophagous insect pest that causes significant yield loss in rice (Oryza staiva L.). Semiochemical based pest management is being sought as an alternate to chemical pesticides to reduce pesticide footprints. We hypothesized differential release of volatiles from ho...

The widespread use of synthetic chemicals as storage protectants makes food hazardous, endangers human health and develops insect resistance. Hence, in the present study Vitex negundo L. oil nanoemulsion (VNO NE) was prepared to manage stored grain pests. V. negundo oil (VNO) had major compounds like Aromandendrene, Beta-caryophyllene, Squalene, 3-...

Insects harbour diverse range of microbes in the digestive tract. An investigation was carried out to isolate and characterize the culturable gut bacterial fauna of three stem borers attacking rice (Scirpophaga incertulus, Sesamia inferens and Chilo suppressalis) morphologically, biochemically and genetically (based on 16S rDNA sequences). Their...

Asian rice gall midge is one of the important pest of rice which attacks the crop from nursery to the end of the tillering stage. Managing this pest through plant resistance is the most viable and economical. Two hundred‐two rice genotypes were phenotyped against Asian rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae (Wood‐Mason) and the mechanism of resistance in...

Sheath blight (ShB) disease is a major biotic stress that causes significant yield loss in rice. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) have been found to suppress the adverse effect of disease on plants. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to evaluate the effect of PGPR strains isolated from the rhizosphere soil of medicin...

Brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) is one of the most destructive pests of rice in Southeast Asia. It expresses a differential reaction to resistant rice culti-vars and various insecticide groups in different geographic locations. Therefore, genetic diversity among N. lugens populations must be understood for their effective management. H...

The quantum of pesticides in surface as well as drinking water has become a serious health hazard. In this experiment, magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO NPs) were synthesized using leaves of purple-colored rice variety (Crossa) and utilized for simultaneous removal of three pesticides, namely, thiamethoxam, chlorpyriphos, and fenpropathrin from wa...

The rice earhead bug, Leptocorisa oratoria (Fabricius, 1794) is a critical rice pest in India. No mitochondrial genome of L. oratoria has been sequenced earlier, and the mitochondrial data are crucial for phylogenetic and population genetic studies of this significant rice pest. In the present study, the genome of L. oratoria is 17,584 bp long with...

Phosphine, as per several reports, is considered to be an ideal and effective alternative to methyl bromide (MB) fumigant, phased out globally honouring ‘Montreal Protocol’. The food grains fumigated with phosphine are perceived to be residue-free; however, estimation of its residues is imperative. In the present study, the phosphine residues were...

The rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) (Lepi-doptera: Pyralidae), is a serious pest of grains in storage systems resulting in immense losses but is also widely used as a factitious host for mass rearing of many im-portant natural enemies of crop pests. Given the role of kairomones, the aim of this study was to isolate and identify potential...

The most destructive stored grain pests in India are the rust red flour beetle and the rice weevil. The most common method for controlling these two pests in storage is phosphine fumigation. However, frequent and acute or chronic doses of exposure than the recommended doses lead to the development of genetic and morphological resistance by changing...

Rice leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis , Guenee is a serious pest of rice and causes significant yield losses. Insecticides are commonly employed to control this pest, but their use often escalates production costs and fosters pesticide resistance. Identifying insect-resistant rice genotypes and their resistance mechanisms is crucial for success...

BACKGROUND The rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is a pest of stored grains and widely used as a factitious host during the mass rearing of several natural enemies of crop pests. Hormesis is well‐documented in pest insects, to some extent in natural enemies of pests. RESULTS We report transgenerational stimulatory...

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of a biological control agent depends on how well it can control pests and how compatible it is with pesticides. Therefore, we reported the multigenerational effect of a commonly used insecticide, imidacloprid, on the functional response of a widely acclaimed egg parasitoid, Trichogramma chilonis Ishii, to different den...

The potential yield loss of 15-25% rice production is noticed due to different pest infestation in South Asian countries. This is due to the favorable climatic conditions for pests. It compels farmers to use a major chunk of pesticides to prevent/recover from pest attack. Hence, the field experiments were carried out to test the insecticide, Chlora...

Identification of eggs in grain/flour is critical for managing stored grain pests. Chemical dyes, which are typically used to identify eggs, may irritate skin and eyes. The current study seeks to uncover naturally coloured materials that could be employed as natural stains to differentially colour Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) eggs from the grain. I...

Damage caused by insect herbivores, notably Asian rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae is more prevalent in the rice‐growing belts of India's southern and north‐eastern states. As a prelude to resistant cultivar development, the identification of genomic regions for resistance in the source population is crucial. In the present investigation, 202 rice...

Brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål.) is one of the most ruinous pest of rice in south-east Asia. This insect had the tendency to express differential reaction to resistant rice cultivars and various insecticide groups in different geographic locations. Therefore, genetic diversity among the N. lugens populations is required to be understoo...

Nilaparvata lugens is a monophagous pest of rice crop. Various strategies have been employed to manage this pest. We evaluated the toxicity of Persicaria hydropiper (L.) leaf extracts against N. lugens along with chemical insecticide, imidacloprid. P. hydropiper leaf extracts produced significant mortality against N. lugens nymphal and adult stages...

Despite the economic and ecological impact of the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens infestation associated with rice cultivation in India, studies on its genetic structure are lacking. Hence, the present study was conducted to assess the genetic variability of N. lugens in India. The study evaluated the diversity in N. lugens populations using...

Rice, primary staple food of Asia, is spread in countries beyond the boundary of the Asian continent. World rice production has increased significantly but the growth rate in yields is not increased significantly. Therefore, rice researchers are facing a herculean task of improving rice productivity because of the constraints like reducing cultivab...

Brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, is the major pest of rice in India and causes significant yield loss. It causes damage by sucking the plant sap leading to a characteristic symptom called ‘hopper burn’. The present study was undertaken to assess the genetic variability of N. lugens populations from different rice ecologies in India, to compre...

Hormesis for the intractable pests can be dreadful, but for natural enemies of pests, it is a puissant strategy in optimizing their mass rearing. We report multigenerational stimulatory effects of widely used insecticide, imidacloprid, on the demographic traits of an important egg parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis Ishii. The study investigated the c...

Yellow stem borer (YSB) Scirpophaga incertulas, is the major pest of rice. Even after the repeated insecticidal applications, farmers found it difficult to manage YSB due to its cryptic behavior and concealed feeding habit and moreover there is no resistance variety available for this pest. Therefore, an attempt was made to find an alternate strate...

Climate change has substantial impact on insect species diversity and their distribution and poses a great threat to human food security by reducing agricultural production and productivity globally. The rise in earth's temperature, elevated carbon dioxide and change in the frequency of rainfall patterns and distribution of precipitation pattern ar...

In agricultural and forest ecosystem where the exasperating behavior of the arthropod pests are now being tackled by bio-control agents. Of all bio-control agents, the most familiar and successful hymenopteran parasitoids, Trichogramma spp. and Habrobracon hebetor are the puissant weapons for the biological management of intractable pests. Generall...

Rice, primary staple food of Asia, is spread in countries beyond the boundary of the Asian continent. World rice production has increased significantly but the growth rate in yields is not increased significantly. Therefore, rice researchers are facing a herculean task of improving rice productivity because of the constraints like reducing cultivab...

Rice is India's most imperative food crop for more than sixty-five percent of the country's population. Every year, stored insect pest infestation causes about 3.51 percent loss of rice in India. A large number of insect pests (> 100 species) severely damage grains during storage and they also contaminate products with uric acid, scales and dead in...

Pesticides are essential in crop protection as they keep the plants safe from insects, weeds, fungi, and other pests in order to increase crop production and feed billions of people throughout the world. There are more than 500 pesticide molecules currently in use all around the world. Their non-judicious use has noticeably contaminated the environ...

Triflumezopyrim (TMP), a mesoionic insecticide, is commonly used for controlling planthoppers in rice. However, the relationship between the TMP residue and toxicity against brown planthoppers (BPHs) has not been studied in detail. We are reporting the dissipation of TMP from rice plant and soil under field conditions. The median lethal dose and me...

Rice production is facing serious threats due to frequent outbreak of brown plant hopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål.) population. Globally, four biotypes of N. lugens has been recorded, of which biotype-4 is the utmost damaging one prevailing in Asian subcontinents particularly in India. Therefore, effective management of N. lugens requires durable...

The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) is the most serious pest of rice across the world. It is also known to transmit stunted viral disease; the insect alone or in combination with a virus causes the break- down of rice vascular system, leading to economic losses in commercial rice production. Despite its immense economic importance, inf...

Growing population, along with changing climate, is the major challenge to food growers to fulfill global demand of food supply. As per FAO (2009) report, world population is anticipated to touch 9.1 billion in 2050. Therefore, agricultural production needs to be increased up to 70% to fulfill the food requirements of a steadily growing population....

Laboratory studies were conducted to assess the repellant effects of three essential oils from plants viz., orange, eucalyptus and cinnamon oils against four major coleopteran stored grain insect pests of rice viz., Sitophilus oryzae, Oryzaephilus surinamensis, Rhyzopertha dominica, and Tribolium castaneum. The % repellency (PR) and index of repell...

Point pollution of pesticides originating from the washing of spraying machines could be controlled by biobed system and it is in use in temperate countries. The biobed system is yet to be established in tropical countries. An indigenous biobed system was prepared using local resources like rice straw, farm yard manures (FYM) and paddy field soil t...

Laboratory studies were conducted to assess the repellant effects of three essential oils from plants viz., orange, eucalyptus and cinnamon oils against four major coleopteran stored grain insect pests of rice viz., Sitophilus oryzae, Oryzaephilus surinamensis, Rhyzopertha dominica, and Tribolium castaneum. The % repellency (PR) and index of repell...

Currently, phosphine and methyl bromide are the only registered fumigants in India. The latter is used exclusively for Quarantine and Pre-Shipment (QPS) treatments. However, in view of its ozone depleting potential a necessity has arisen to seek an alternative. In this context, phosphine was evaluated as an alternative for methyl bromide for QPS tr...

Different factitious hosts were used to mass rear Trichogramma japonicum Ashmead in different parts of the globe because thorough details were lacking in both the laboratory and the field. The objective of this study was to compare, parasitoid, T . japonicum reared in different factitious hosts. Three commonly used factitious host eggs, Corcyra cep...

Rice is the staple food crop in Asia, and the improvement in its productivity is necessary to meet the demand of growing population. However, pests are one of the major obstacles in rice farming. Damages caused by pests in rice are intensifying and have become more complex. To tackle the situation, new innovations are being developed. This chapter...

Agriculture has always been affected by intractable pests. Conventional agriculture still relies on the use of several pesticides to control various pests to ensure the yield of the crop and to feed a constantly growing population. To reduce the pest menace, the fatuous behavior of people as well as a natural proclivity towards the use of pesticide...

Hormesis phenomena in insect pests can have a negative impact, but for beneficial insects, it might be used to optimize mass rearing and increase the quality of biocontrol agents. Here, we report the multigenerational stimulatory effects of deltamethrin in a factitious laboratory host, Corcyra cephalonica, and the subsequent performance of its para...

Farmers’ health and the environment are prime priorities for any agrarian economy. In India, almost 90% of the pesticides are used in rice, cotton, and vegetables. Nevertheless, factors associated with farmers’ behavior in pesticide use are lacking. This study assessed Indian rice farmers’ intention to use pesticides, by applying a modified version...

Globally, rice production is severely affected by brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) populations. Among the four different biotypes of N. lugens reported worldwide, biotype 4 is the most damaging and prevalent insect pest in South East Asian countries, especially in the Indian sub-continent. Management of this pest with resistant genotypes is e...

Laboratory evaluation of resistance to brown plant hopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens done at the National Rice Research Institute with their released rice varieties. Ninety-nine varieties were screened along with resistant (PTB 33 and Salkathi) and susceptible check (TN1) during 2019-20. Results revealed that only Lunishree (2.92) and Luna Sampad (3....

Gut bacteria community associated with insects are crucial to understand their function in the physiology of the host. The hypothesis of the present study was that gut microbiota in phosphine resistant population inhabits phosphine degrading bacteria. The study demonstrated the differential gut bacteria in phosphineresistant and susceptible populat...

Rice caseworm Nymphula depunctalisis (Guenee) is one of the major insect pests that attack rice. Due to its leaf cases, and without taking into account their spatial distribution pattern it is difficult to evolve an IPM strategy against this. Present study is on this and was assessed with field experiments during rainy seasons of 2015, 2016 and 201...

Point pollution of pesticides originating from the washing of spraying machines could be controlled by biobed system and it is in use in temperate countries. The biobed system is yet to be established in tropical countries. An indigenous biobed system was prepared using local resources like rice straw, farm yard manures (FYM) and paddy field soil t...

Chlorantraniliprole (CAP) is extensively used for rice pest management. Lack of information on the role of standing water and amount and timing of rainfall on CAP dissipation in rice ecosystem could hamper its prospective use. Present study was performed to investigate the effects of different water regimes (saturated, 5 and 10 cm standing water) a...

Production and productivity of rice is reduced due to the emerging disease grain discoloration. The disease is a complex symptom due to the association of a number of pathogenic and saprophytic fungi that infect the rice grains both in field and storage conditions. These pathogens not only reduce yield and quality, but also produce harmful mycotoxi...

Correlation coefficient between YSB, S. incertulas population and weather parameters revealed that YSB population had significant positive correlation with relative humidity (0.515 and 0.489) and negative correlation with wind speed (-0.427 and -0.453) during the corresponding week for both the years 2015 and 2016; whereas lag week 1 data showed th...

The residue of chemical pesticides used against storage insects may cause health hazards. Hence, alternative management of storage insects of rice is the need of the hour and eucalyptus oil (EO) is one of the safer alternatives. The study proposes to prepare EO nanoemulsions to improve its efficacy. Different combinations of EO, surfactant (Tween 8...

Plant species, viz Cleistanthus collinus, Lantana camara, and Strychnos nux-vomica are being traditionally used for pest management in rice. However, limited investigation has been carried out to understand the toxic effect of these materials on soil microbes. Hot water extracts of these plants were evaluated for their effects on soil microbial pop...

An experiment was set up to determine the rate of dissipation of chlorantraniliprole (CTP) from two soils with contrasting properties. The other objective of the study was to find out the effect of CTP on soil microorganisms (population, microbial biomass carbon and soil enzymes) under controlled environment. CTP residues when applied at recommende...

Association between rice grain characteristics and Sitophilus oryzae development were deciphered through laboratory experiments. Among the different physical characteristics evaluated, significant and negative correlation of 100 seed weight was observed with weevil emergence (r = − 0.53) and susceptibility index (r = − 0.51). Hence, 100 seed weight...

Contact, fumigant, persistence toxicities and repellant activity of three plant essential oils viz., cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum J. Presl), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus obliqua L’Her) and orange oil (Citrus sinensis L.) against rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae L. were evaluated under laboratory condition. Chemical profiling of tested essential oils through...

This study is on the interaction between soil biological characteristics and weather factors with an field experiment conducted at the UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru. Significant difference in abundance of soil fauna was documented among the treatments, of which the best treatment (20 t farm yard manure/ ha) for mesofauna was correlated with weather factors....

Studies were undertaken to evaluate the rice genotypes of Sikkim and Tripura for their resistance against brown planthopper (BPH) under glasshouse conditions. Among 74 rice genotypes phenotyped, a genotype (AC-39843) was considered as resistant and two other genotype (AC-39842 and AC-39877) of Tripura were categorized as moderately resistant to BPH...

Rice sheath blight disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani is an economically important disease of rice in India. To characterize the R. solani population structure, sixty-five isolates were collected from rice and rice associated weed species from different agroclimatic zones of Karnataka, India. All 65 isolates were characterized for their morpholog...

In India, insect population changes both spatially and temporally over the period of time in a crop like rice. In the present study, data from the year 1965 to 2017 shows cosiderable increase of insect pests from 03 to 21 numbers. Their spread to more rice areas has been a matter of concern, perticularly BPH, which has invaded to all rice growing a...

Toxicity and repellency activity of Cleistanthus collinus (Roxb.) (CC) leaf extracts were evaluated against rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) under laboratory condition. Five concentration(s) (1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% and 4%) with two controls (acetone and water) treatments along with deltamethrin were...

Indian seed production system is a robust route to mitigate the seed requirement of the country. The seed class involves Nucleus, Breeder, Foundation and Certified seed with different seed quality standard at different levels to safeguard the production of large quantity of quality seed for sustainable agriculture. The maintenance breeding is a man...

The insect problem is accentuated in intensive rice cropping where the insects occur throughout the year in overlapping generations. In India, about a dozen of insect species are of major importance in rice but the economic damage caused by these species varies greatly from field to field and from year to year. Insect pests cause about 10-15 per ce...

Extensive use of imidacloprid in rice ecosystem may alter dynamics of microorganisms and can change soil biochemical properties. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of imidacloprid on growth and activities of microbes in tropical rice soil ecosystem. Four treatments, namely, recommended dose (at 25 g a.i. ha⁻¹, RD), double the reco...

The role of soil moisture, light and pH on imidacloprid dissipation was investigated. A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based method was developed to quantify imidacloprid present in soil with a recovery of more than 82%. Rate of dissipation of imidacloprid from soil was faster in submerged condition compared to field capacity and air...

To assess the impact of weather parameters on rice pests, a field experiment was conducted in rice ecosystem during 2013-2014 at Agricultural Research Station, Gangavathi, Koppal district of Karnataka. The rice insect-pests infestation was monitored through light trap catches during 52 standard weeks of the study period and correlated with weather...

ABSTRACTLaboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the contact and fumigant activities of some essential oils, viz. orange oil (Citrus sinensis L.), eucalyptus oil (Eucalyptus oblique L’Her) and cinnamon oil (Cinnamomum verum Presl) against rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.). In contact bioassay at 24 h after treatment, the highest mortality (9...

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is the important member of the family Amaryllidaceae (Alliaceae) and widely grown herbaceous biennial vegetable crop. Insect pests and diseases are the major constraints in production and productivity of Onion. The tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (F) is one of the most important insect pests of onion in the Asian tropi...

Studies on the bioefficacy of dinotefuran 20 per cent SG was carried out against Bt cotton sucking pests at 15, 20, 25 and 30 g a.i/ha as compared with standard check viz., imidacloprid 17.8 SL and thiamethoxam 25 WG. Effect of treatments at 3, 7, 10 and 14 days after application differed significantly over untreated control and standard checks. At...

Studies were conducted at UAS, Dharwad to assess the effects of soil type, crop cover and agricultural practices on earthworm abundance in crop ecosystems. Red soils with fruit and plantations representing perennial Orchard ecosystem supported significantly higher earthworm densities than more disturbed annual crop ecosystems. Organic and integra...

Field trials were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of spinetoram 12 SC against H. armigera of soybean at A.R.S., Bidar, with cv. JS-335, laid out in RBD a with eight treatments and three replications having 30 x 10 cm row to row and plant to plant spacing, respectively with a plot size of 4.5 x 4.0 m. Spinetoram 12 SC, at various dosages was comp...

Field studies were carried out to evaluate the bio-efficacy of Spinetoram 12 SC at four doses viz., 36, 45, 54 and 60 g a.i ha-1 against the soybean defoliator, Spodoptera litura , at ARS field at UAS, Bidar during 2010-2012. Spinetoram 12 SC @ 60 g a.i ha-1 was highly effective in checking the larval population of Spodoptera litura. Spinetoram 12...

The broken grains of rice and sorghum served as potential substrates for conidial production of Acremonium zeylanicum which yielded 9.15x10 8 and 8.33x10 8 conidia/g of substrate, respectively, 15 days after inoculation. Maize and pearl millet were next best alternatives. The spore count increased with increase in duration of incubation period afte...

Evaluation of food grains for suitability as substrates for mass production of the fungus, Acremonium zeylanicum (Petch) W. Garns and H. C. Evans revealed that the spore count increased with increase in duration of incubation period after inoculation till harvesting. Rice and sorghum grain served as potential substrates for conidial production of A...

The fungus, Acremonium zeylanicum (Petch) W. Gams and H.C. Evans, was found infectious to sugarcane woolly aphid, Ceratovacuna lanigera Zehntner and caused differential mortality of different instars at varied concentrations. Studies on the efficacy of the entomopathogenic fungus revealed that the mortality of aphids increased with increase in conc...