INCIDENCE OF SUCKING PESTS ON PROMISING TRADITIONAL PADDY CULTIVARS IN ORGANIC SITUATION G. K. Prashanta Kumar 1 , S. Pradeep 1 *, S. Sridhara 2 and M. Manjunatha 1 1 Department of Agricultural Entomology, 2 Department of Agronomy College of Agriculture, Navile Campus, Shimoga - 577 204, India. Abstract Four promising traditional paddy cultivars were tested against the incidence of sucking pests under field condition at Organic Farming Research Center Navile, Shimoga during Kharif 2010. Incidence was assessed based on the 0-9 damage score as per the Standard Evaluation Score (SES). The results revealed that there was no significant differential occurrence of thrips damage between promising traditional paddy cultivars. The thrips population occurred at early stage of the crop period (Aug. I to Oct. I fortnight). The maximum incidence of thrips was noticed in first fortnight of August in Mysore mallige while, its minimum was noticed in Ratnachudi during October first fortnight. All cultivars showed resistance to thrips damage. Green leaf hopper population was noticed throughout the study period (Aug. II to Nov. II fortnight). Damage was similar in promising traditional paddy cultivars, however, the higher incidence was noticed during second fortnight of September. Whereas, the minimum damage score of 0.45 was recorded in Ratnachudi during second fortnight of August. Ear head bug damage started during milky grain stage of the crop at 75 DAT in all promising traditional paddy cultivars. Based on the mean damaged grains, Ratnachudi recorded minimum damaged grains (1.94%) and showed resistance to ear head bug, while, its maximum was noticed in Chinnaponni (5.91%). Key words : Rice, traditional cultivars, insect pest complex, resistance. Plant Archives Vol. 12 No. 1, 2012 pp. 23-26 ISSN 0972-5210 Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the important cereal crops of the world and forms the staple food for more than 65 per cent of the world population and known as king of cereals. Nearly 90 per cent of the area, production and consumption of rice are confined to South East Asian countries (Mathur et al., 1999). It is essentially a crop of warm humid environment and grown mainly under assured rainfall or irrigation. Since, mid sixties despite the cultivation of high yielding varieties the rice production and productivity has not made an impact due to the unholy triple alliance of insects, diseases and weeds. Therefore, the promising traditional paddy cultivars are highly adapted to the regions and also have special uses and varying levels of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, traditional rice cultivars are important reservoirs of valuable traits and need special attention for future conservation. It possesses valuable traits viz., medicinal properties, nutrition, taste, aroma, tolerance to drought, submergence and other special uses. More than 50 per cent of rainfed rice in Karnataka is under traditional rice, thus sheltering a potential genetic diversity (Hanamaratti et al., 2008). Insect pests constitute the major yield limiting biotic stresses throughout the rice growing countries. About 300 species of insects have been reported to attack rice crop in India, out of which 20 have been found to be the major pests (Arora and Dhaliwal, 1996). Among the insect pests, yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas WIk.), brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stal.), green leafhopper ( Nephotettix spp.), ear head bug ( Leptocorisa oratorius Fabricius), leaf folder ( Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Gn.) and case worm (Numphula depunctalis Guenee) are predominant in Karnataka. These pests infest the crop at all stages of plant growth and cause a variety of damage such as tissue boring, sap sucking, defoliation and leaf scrapping. This calls for identification of traditional rice cultivars showing resistance towards pest incidence, so that they can be effectively used in breeding programs. In the present study, attempts have been made to assess incidence of sucking pests on four promising traditional *Author for correspondence- e-mail: drpadeepent@rediffmail.com