Simulation of Nilaparvata lugens damage in Rice

InfoCrop-rice, a crop simulation model was used to simulate the damage mechanism of brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens on two rice cultivars, Pusa Basmati 1 and ADT-38. The model was calibrated and validated with two experimental data sets on brown planthopper and rice yield that were generated through differential insecticidal application during kharif 2009 at New Delhi and rabi 2009–2010 at Aduthurai. Simulated yield and total dry matter (TDM) in various treatments over the two experiments were found to be proximal to the observed yields (R²= 0.945–0.953) and TDM (R²= 0.839–0.864), respectively. Similarly, the simulated yield and TDM losses were also proximal to respective observed yield losses (R²= 0.928–0.962) and TDM yield losses (R²= 0.813–0.824), indicating proper validation of damage mechanism of BPH. In view of the application of crop growth simulation models in pest management, there is a need to promote their use for devising location-specific decision support tools.