Department of Agricultural Entomology, Centre for Plant Protectlon Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Unhersity, Coimbatore 641 003 Tamil Nadu (India).
*Present address: Section of Entomology, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore-641 007, Tamil Nadu (India).
Predation by different instars of mirid, Cyrtorhinus lividipennis Reuter on eggs of brown plant hopper (BPH), Nihparvata lugens Stal, showed high predation rate by adult female (8.79) followed by the adult male (7.57) per day. The least predation rate was achieved by the first instar (3.11). A maximum of 5.77 nymphs per day was preyed upon by the adult female mirid followed by adult male (5.35 nymphs per day). The predatory rate of mirid on white backed plant hopper (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera Horvath was slightly lower with 6.36 eggs per day eaten by the female mirid and 1.47 eggs fed by the first instar nymph. The rate of feeding by adult male and fifth instar mirid on the first instar of WBPH was at par, each having fed on 3.71 and 3.46 per day, respectively. Female mirid fed the maximum (4.84 per day) first instar WBPH. On the green leaf hopper (GLH), Nephotettix virescens Distant, the predation rate on eggs varied from 4.34 to 1.11 per day by the various stages of mirid, the maximum by the female mirid and the minimum by the first instar. Beyond the I11 nymphal instar of GLH, the predatory rate of mirid drastically reduced. Among all the three species of insects evaluated for predatory potential, the predatory rate on BPH, WBPH, GLH declined as the stage of the pest advanced. This indicated that the mirid is mainly an egg predator. Through a11 the three pests were consumed by the mirid, the rate of predation was higher on BPH.
