Title: Farmer Participatory Assessment of Integrated Pest Management Strategies against the Insect Pest of Lowland Rice in Coastal Odisha
Abstract: IntroductionLowland rice based cropping system is the predominate farming situation in the coastal ecology of Odisha.Besides, the various abiotic constraints like submergence, nutrient deficiency, iron toxicity, the lowland rice is subjected to different biotic stresses like insect pest, disease, weed infestation and algal blooms contributing towards substantial yield loss.Among them, insect pest infestation continues to be the important production constraint in lowland rice ecology.Zhimomi and Ao (2011) reported that the incidence of major insect pests of rice is the highest in lowland as compared to upland paddy ecosystem.Nearly 300 species of insect pests attack the rice crop at different stages and among them 23 species cause notable damage (Pasalu and Katti, 2006) resulting in 30-35% yield loss. (Prakash et al., 2007).Yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas Walker) is one of the most destructive pests of this crop and is widely distributed monophagous pest in the Indian subcontinent (Atwal and Dhaliwal, 2008) with an estimated yield loss of 27-34% every year (Prasad et al., 2007) and has assumed status as national pest (Pasalu et al.,