Efficacy and Economics of Different Insecticides against Yellow Stem Borer, Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker), in Kalanamak Rice

Abstract

Yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas Walker) causes vegetative-stage injury in rice, including in Kalanamak varieties grown in eastern Uttar Pradesh. A field experiment was conducted during the 2024 kharif season at the Crop Research Station, Masodha, Ayodhya, to compare seven insecticidal formulations with an untreated control in Pusa Narendra Kalanamak-1 rice. Treatments were arranged in a randomised block design with three replications, and dead-heart incidence was recorded before and at 5, 10 and 15 days after each of two sprays. Across the three post-spray observations, chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC had the lowest arithmetic mean dead-heart incidence after the first (3.24%) and second (3.40%) sprays, compared with 9.07% and 7.33%, respectively, in untreated plots. At 15 days after the second spray, the corresponding values were 2.97% and 7.78%. Chlorantraniliprole-treated plots also had the highest reported grain yield (41.50 q ha⁻¹), compared with 24.10 q ha⁻¹ in the control, and the highest calculated incremental net-return-to-treatment-cost ratio (15.57:1) at the stated grain price and treatment expenditures. These treatment-level summaries indicate favourable performance under the conditions studied; dose documentation, statistical inference and broader environmental outcomes were not established by the available summaries.