Caseworms are very common in the area of Khaspokharia village West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand. Fresh leaves of parasi (Cleistanthus collinus) and sali (Boswellia serrata) are spread on the insect-infested field @ 5 kg leaves per 100 m2 . A majority of insects (70-80%) are controlled with this practice.
Results and discussion
Results obtained from the experiment conducted on 15 farmers’ fields during 2003-04 and 2004- 05 cropping seasons. At 30 DAT minimum mean caseworm infestation (30.9%) was recorded in application of chlorpyriphos @ 1.0 litre/ha compared with 81.3% in control during two cropping seasons (2003-04 and 2004-05), followed by application of parasi leaves @ 100 kg/ha, which recorded 58.1% caseworm infestation. At 60 DAT recorded minimum mean caseworm infestation (9.4%). All the treatments were significantly superior to control. Use of parasi leaves was effective in reducing caseworm population.
Conclusion
The study revealed that spreading of parasi leaves once 5-10 days after transplanting @ 100 kg/ha helped in reducing both the rice caseworm infestation and larvae population. Application of parasi leaves showed significantly lower infestation of caseworm than control.