Abstract

Basmati/aromatic rice in the Mid Western Plain Zone of U.P., India is being attacked by a number of insects and diseases every year inspite of using pesticides. Integrated pest and disease management (IPDM) strategies blended with proven technologies including bio-agents was demonstrated on rice variety, Pusa Sugandha-4 at farmers field with the aim to reduce the production cost and pesticides load over the crop. All the activities of demonstrations were carried out in close co-ordination with scientists and farmers as well. In general, lower incidence of insects and diseases along with higher numbers of natural enemies and yield were recorded in all the IPDM adopted fields as compared to farmers practices (FP). The average yield of IPDM fields was higher by 10.70 q/h coupled with higher number of tillers/hill (12.72), grains per panicle (121) and higher test weight (25.10 g). Superiority of IPDM package was also evidenced by economic analysis as cost benefit ratio of 1: 2.90 and 1: 2.37 was obtained in IPDM and farmers practices, respectively.

Key words: Rice, integrated pest and disease management (IPDM), demonstration, farmers, participatory.