Effect of Habitat Manipulation on Incidence of Different Pests in Rice Ecosystem

The experiment consisting effect of habitat manipulation on incidence of different pests in paddy ecosystem were undertaken at the Agronomy farm, college of Agriculture Dapoli during Kharif season, 2014. The incidence of rice pests viz., Leaf folder, Blue beetle, and Skipper was recorded in three replication eleven treatments (ten with nectar rich flowering plants on bunds and without nectar rich plants as control) to evaluate the effect of nectar rich flowering plants for conserving the natural enemies in rice ecosystem and their impact on rice pests experiment was carried out in randomized block design. The results of the field studies carried out to record the incidence of rice pests in rice ecosystem. Overall per cent infestation of rice leaf folder in five weeks wasin the range of0.12 to1.27. The treatments Sunflower, Ekdandi, Mustard, Sesamumand Marigold were found best and recorded 0.12, 0.20, 0.23, 0.27 and 0.29 per cent infestation respectively. The infestation of rice blue beetle started in 4^th week of August 2014, increased to the extent of 6.28 per cent in 1^st week of September and then it showed declined trend and pest disappeared after 1^st week of October. The per cent infestation of rice blue beetle in six weeks was in the range of 0.10 to 2.99. The treatment Ekdandi as border on bunds showed minimum infestation of 0.10 per cent followed by the treatment Niger (0.28%). Overall per cent infestation of rice skipper in five weeks was in the range of 0.08 to 0.85. The treatments Sesamum and Sunflower as nectar rich plants on rice bunds were found to be the best treatments for reducing the rice skipper infestation by recording minimum infestation of 0.08 per cent.