IPM Packages for Crops

rice IPM techniques

• Raise pre-crop of sun hemp or other green manure crops and incorporate 45 days old crop in the soil during land preparation. • Till, remove weeds, and level the field to maintain an even level of water to minimize weed growth. • Clean bunds (levees) to remove alter- nate hosts of pests and diseases. • Select insect/disease resistant variet - ies. • Select pure high-quality seeds free of disease, weed seeds, and insect damage. • Apply seed sorting by floatation. • Treat seeds with Trichoderma / Pseu- domonas to protect from soil-borne diseases. • In direct sown rice, crop should be sown in lines at recommended spacings to facilitate inter-weeding operations. • The normal spacing of transplants rice plants should be 30–36 hills/m2 (de - pending on the duration of the variety). • Remove disease infected plants and insect infested plant parts in the nursery before transferring to the main field. • Seedlings should be free of weed seedlings at the time of transplanting. • Mechanical weed control methods ap- plied at 2–3 weeks after sowing and a second time at 4–6 weeks, if necessary. • No pesticide spray period for the first 40 days after sowing or transplanting. • Plant marigold, sesamum, or veg- etables on the bunds, which serve as nectar and pollen sources to parasitoids and predators.

• Set up plastic sheet barrier strips and traps around the field for rodent control. • Set up yellow sticky traps to minimize thrips and whiteflies. • Set up pheromone traps for stemborers to monitor and to take up timely interven- tions. • Balanced use of fertilizers as per local recommendations to reduce planthopper outbreaks. • Splitting nitrogen applications to reduce planthoppers, bacterial blight and stem rot. • If pesticide applications are necessary, apply biopesticides e.g., Metarhizium , Beauveria bassiana , Bacillus thuringien- sis , NPV or a botanical insecticide e.g., neem.

• Release of egg parasitoid Tricho- gramma japonicum and T. chilonis @100,000/ha on appearance of leaf folder, stemborer egg masses as bio- control agents (both natural enemies parasitize the pest egg masses). • Both foliar and seed treatments are used to protect rice crops. Need- based pesticide application at the various stages of growth to man- age diseases and insect pests. Use pesticides as last option, and do not use pesticides with the same mode of action. Follow the recommended dose of the manufacturer. Consult

local extension officials for pesticide selection.

Fertilizer application