Tips for Better Crop Protection

• Use disease and insect-free pure seeds.
• Pay more attention to nursery protection.
• Ensure timely planting and crop protection during early growth stage.
• Maintain field sanitation and adopt clean cultivation.
• Provide alleys (30 cm width) every 3 meters in the main field.
• Apply nitrogen fertiliser in splits (3-4 times or adjust when conditions warrant).
• Monitor incidence of pests and diseases through survey and surveillance programme.
• Exploit biological control by encouraging natural enemies through need based pesticide application.
• While applying chemicals, maintain constantly the recommended quantity of pesticide per ha.
• Do not apply granules after booting stage of the crop growth.
• At flowering stage, dust or spray only during afternoon/evening hours. For effective control of brown planthopper and whitebacked planthopper, direct spray or dust towards the basal portion of the plants.
• Water depth should not be more than 5.0 cm at the time of granular application and water should be kept impounded for 3-4 days.
• Mix emulsifiable concentrates, wettable powders, water soluble granules and water dispersible granules separately in water and add to the sprayer.
• If rainfall occurs within 3 hours after spraying, repeat the spray.
• Frequent scouting of rice plants is crucial for early detection of pests like stem borers and planthoppers, ensuring timely intervention and effective pest management.
• Planting of susceptible aromatic variety as trap crop for yellow stem borer management.
• Bund crops like sesamum, marigold, cowpea, linseed, bhendi etc can be raised for improving the crop ecology by enhancing the natural enemy levels and action.
• Judicious use of nitrogenous fertilizers. Leaf colour charts may be used to regulate the N application in the field.
• Alley ways in Plant hopper endemic areas.
• Alternate wetting and drying to be followed in planthopper endemic areas.
• Clipping of leaf tips of the seedlings at the time of transplanting will help in destruction of egg masses of yellow stem borer.
• Roping should be done to dislodge the cases built by case worm larvae.
• Ill drained soils encourage case worm infestation.
• Neem based formulations can be applied in case of grasshopper incidence.
• Judicial use of safe insecticides early in the season helps to conserve natural enemies.