Synergizing Rice Yellow Stem Borer Pheromone with Addition of Plant Extracts and Vitamin E

Rice yellow stem borer, Scirpophaga incertulas Walker YSB females produce sex pheromone to attract males for mating! Synthetic pheromone blend (3:1 blend of Z-ll-hexadecinal and Z-9-hexadecinal) is now used for monitoring and direct control of this pest through mass trapping and mating disruption. The present studies were conducted during Kharif 1999 and Rabi 2000 seasons with all the three (vitamin E, Pusa Basmati and Pheromone) components to know the effect of these on trap catch and possibility of using them in mass trapping technique for better efficacy. The results revealed significant increase (almost doubled) in the trap catch with addition of Pusa Basmati and Vitamin E to the synthetic pheromone than only pheromone, followed by reduced borer damage and increased egg parasitism.