Biology of whitebacked plant hopper, Sogatella furcifera on basmati rice under agroclimatic condition of Haryana

The whitebacked planthopper (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera (Horvath) is an important pest of rice (Oryza sativa L.). The objective of this study was to examine the biology of pest under agro-climatic condition of Haryana, India during Kharif2012. Observations were taken to examine the site of oviposition, hatching, per cent larval duration, pupal period, longevity etc. The colour of adult was dull -white with blackish spot on dorsal side of abdomen with average fecundity of 132.8 eggs/female in cluster of 5 to 30 eggs. The highest number of eggs (71.96%) were laid on leaf sheath of plants followed by midrib (16.66%) and stem (11.36%). The average incubation period was 8.6±0.24 days with 84.21 per cent hatching. Maximum hatching of eggs was observed during morning hours. WBPH completed its post -embryonic development in 42.09 days (male) and 44.4 days (female) and passed through five nymphal instars to become an adult with 89 per cent larval survival and 89±0.05 per cent moth emergence. Adult male was short lived 14.4 days as compared to female (15.9) days with 1.0:0.78 sex ratio. This study provides detailed information on the morphological peculiarties of immature stages with the duration required for the completion of life cycle.