Abstract
Natural enemies of insect pests of rice, sugarcane, and a few selected rabi vegetables and their relative abundance were surveyed during 2014–15 and 2015–16. Sixteen spider species were found in rice ecosystem. Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Dermaptera were the dominant as natural enemies in rice ecosystem. The common natural enemies viz., were Conocephalus longipennis (de Haan), Agriocnemis femina Brauer, Micraspis crocea (Mulsant), Cicindela undulate Dejean and C. melancholia, predated upon different rice pests. However, larval parasitoid, Cotesia (Apanteles) angustibasis (Gahan) and egg parasitoid, Trichogramma japonicum Ashmead were more abundant in the rice ecosystem. On the other hand, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin and Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill., were the key entomopathogens observed against rice pests. In case of sugarcane, Sturmiopsis inferens Townsend and Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) were the common larval parasitoids of Chilo infuscatellus Snellen whereas Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) was the predominant one against C. tumidicostalis (Hampson); Dipha aphidovora (Meyrick), Micromus igorotus Banks and Chrysoperla spp. were the most common predators on Ceratovacuna lanigera Zehntner. Spalgius epius (Westwood) and chrysopids were observed on papaya mealybug. Cotesia vestalis (Haliday) parasitized the larva of cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae (L.). In cabbage, Bhut jalakia and okra ecosystem, Coccinella septempunctata (L.) and C. transversalis F., were the predominant predators.
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