Influence of crop establishment methods on the incidence of rice blue beetle, Leptispa pygmaea Baly

Influence of two methods of crop establishment viz., direct seeding and transplanting on the incidence of rice blue beetle, Leptispa pygmaea on rice varieties Jyothi (short duration) and Aiswarya (medium duration) were studied during wet and dry season, 2005. A scoring method for the estimation of damage by L. pygmaea was standardized. Transplanting method of rice establishment was observed to suffer more damage by L. pygmaea than direct seeding method in both the rice varieties during the two seasons. Highest damage of blue beetle was observed at the early tillering stage in both direct seeding and transplanting methods with damage ranging from 31.51 to 45.71 per cent in Jyothi and 19.57 to 29.57 per cent in Aiswarya under direct seeded condition and 68.54 to 75.32 per cent in Jyothi and 36.15 to 46.14 per cent in Aiswarya under transplanted crop. Direct seeding resulted in 34–58 per cent reduction of blue beetle damage in Jyothi, whereas in Aiswarya 36–46 per cent damage was reduced by this method.