Alarming Pest of Rice- Rice Yellow Stem Borer

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important staple food crop for more than two third of the population of the India and more than 65 per cent of the world population. India is world's second largest rice producer and consumer next to China. Major rice growing districts in Maharashtra are Thane, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Sindhudurga and Kolhapur. Rice is an important crop because of its nutritional as well as commercial value. 100g of rice supplies 365 K cal energy, 0.12g sugar, 7.12g protein,1.3g dietary fiber and Thiamine, Riboflavin, Zinc, Calcium, Iron, Manganese in stress quantity. Beside high economic value now a day's cultivation is becoming difficult to the farmers because of attack of insect pests causing damage from seedling stage to its maturity. Increasing of the volume in production of rice is an immediate requirement in the country like India due to its rapidly growing population. However, achieving this task seems to be impossible due to various constraints. One of the major problems is rice yellow stem borer attacks the rice field.