Abstract
Rice cultivation in North East India is organic by tradition; however, the recent outbreaks of the rice-swarming caterpillar, Spodoptera mauritia Boisduval, have compelled rice-farmers to use synthetic insecticides. The outbreak in 2016 affected more than 56,768 ha of winter rice in 28 districts of Assam. About 25,545–42,576 L insecticide was applied in the state to combat the outbreak. This is one of the highest insecticide loads ever to be added to the rice ecosystem of Assam. Such a load, if added repeatedly with the reoccurrence of outbreaks, may affect the innate resilience of the rice ecosystem in the long run. In this paper, the outbreak of RSC has been analysed from an ecological perspective in order to replace the existing policy of exclusive dependence on insecticide. The review will help the researchers, extension workers and policy makers of the rice producing countries, more specifically in Asian countries, which together account for more than 91% of the world’s rice production.
Highlights
According to a report by GRiSP, IRRI [1], rice is grown on more than 144 million farms worldwide—more than any other crop—on a harvested area of about 162 million ha in more than 60 countries
Both rain and drought are associated with outbreaks of Rice Swarming Caterpillar (RSC), as “periods of drought followed by heavy rains” are favourable for swarming caterpillars [16]
S. mauritia being a polyphagous species, once it gets settled in a crop ecosystem, it will pass its life stages in other suitable host(s) during the rice off-season, and will continue to damage the rice crop every year to a varying extent
Summary
According to a report by GRiSP, IRRI [1], rice is grown on more than 144 million farms worldwide—more than any other crop—on a harvested area of about 162 million ha in more than 60 countries. It is the basic food for the majority of the Asian population, including the region’s 560 million poor. The North Eastern Region (NER) of India (Figure 1) is one of the largest panhandles in the world and is known for its unique geographical location, rich biodiversity and traditional organic rice farming. It is connected to the rest of India by the Chicken’s
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
