Farmers have been advised to adopt biological or mechanical methods or spray chemicals to control the black bug menace on paddy crop noticed in certain parts of the delta.
In a press release, V.Ambethgar, director, Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai, said that the institute received information that the presence of Scotinophara lurida (Burmeister), known as rice black bug (RBB) or psunami vandu in local parlance, was noticed on the paddy crop particularly in the coastal areas and it was multiplying rapidly.
The pest attacks the rice plant at almost all the stages of growth and results in severe to complete crop loss during heavy infestation.
If a rice plant was infested with about 10 to 15 RBB per hill, then it could cause a yield loss of around 25 per cent.
Pointing out that the study of RBB carried out for about a decade has revealed that these insects were noticed in the fields during or after a full moon period, he said that it was ascertained that the full moon cycle…