Importance of insect

INTRODUCTION:

The word Insect is derived from the Latin word ‘Insectum’ which  means ‘to cut into’. The body of insects are segmented which seems like the body cut into different parts. Generally the body of insect is divided into 3 parts: head, thorax and abdomen; having 3 pairs of legs and usually 2 pairs of wings. And the study of insects is called entomology. Insects can be found in every environment on our planet. But  the majority of insects are found in the warm and moist tropics. Insects have adapted to a broad range of habitats, successfully finding their own niche, because they will consume almost any substance that h as nutritional value.

OBJECTIVES:

1.  To be able to know the insects, entomology, characteristics of insects;
2.  To know the importance of insects in human welfare;
3.  To be able to differentiate the insects i.e. Beneficial and Harmful insects.

IMPORTANCE OF INSECTS:

When many people think of insects, they think of things that bite, sting, eat their flowers, or get in their food and they would just as soon kill everyone that they see. Many insects though, do a lot of good for people and this includes some insects that you may not expect to be good for anything.

Insects perform a vast number of important functions in our ecosystem. They aerate the soil, pollinate blossoms, and control insect and plant pests; they also decompose dead materials, thereby reintroducing nutrients into the soil. Burrowing bugs such as ants and beetles dig tunnels that provide channels for water, benefiting plants. Bees play a major role in pollinating fruit trees and flower blossoms. Gardeners love the big-eyed bug and praying mantis because they control the size of certain insect populations, such as aphids and caterpillars, which feed on new plant growth. Finally, all insects fertilize the soil with the nutrients from their droppings.

INSECTS AS POLLINATORS:

A number of insects, including different types of bees, butterflies, wasps, and some ants, are responsible for pollinating plants around the world. They transport pollen from the male stamen of a flower to the female pistil of another flower on the same plant or another within the same species, allowing for the combination of genes, fertilization, and sexual reproduction. some plants, including at least one- third  of the world’s agricultural crops, and an estimated 90% of all flowering species, are reliant on pollinators. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that ensures the survival of both plants and insects. Plants rely on pollinators to ensure reproduction, fruit set, and seed dispersal. Pollinator insects rely on plants for food and habitat. Without insects people who grow and sell fruit (everything from apples, to tomatoes) would have to find some way to spread the pollen themselves. Obviously, this would be very difficult and time consuming if they have thousands of plants. It is hard to estimate, but the economic value of this role alone is probably in the billions of dollars.

INSECTS AS PREDATORS:

Predatory, or insectivorous insects, eat other insects: pests that would otherwise feed on important crops and plants. Lacewings feed on the eggs and juvenile stages of a number of agricultural pests, such as some types of thrips, mites, whiteflies, melaybugs and the caterpillars and eggs of numerous pest moths. Ladybirds feed on aphids, melaybugs, spider mites and the eggs of some beetle and borer agricultural pests.

INSECTS AS PARASITOIDS:

Parasitoids live out most of their lifespan “attached” in some ways to another insect or being, and ultimately kill their host. The Braconidae family, made up of over 1000 species of tiny wasps, represents only one of the many examples: these wasps feed on, reproduce in, and eventually kill some very harmful caterpillar pests that damage agricultural crops, such as hornworms. The female braconid wasp lays her egg just under a hornworm’s skin, rendering it unable to continue feeding and damaging crops. After the wasp lays eggs hatch, the juveniles are ready to become adults, they will chew their way out of the hornworm and spin cocoons that protrude from its body. Once the adult wasps emerge from their cocoons, the hornworm perishes.

INSECTS AS INDUSTRIAL IMPORTANCE:

1.    HONEY BEE:

Honey bees are very much beneficial for mankind due to its production of nutritious honey and bee wax. Honey is very protenacious and also medicinally important and bee wax is also industrially important such as making candles etc. Bees are very important pollinators. Bees also teach us the lesson of laborious, co-operation and friendship.

2.    SILK WORMS:

Silk worm are highly important insects for human being as it produces silk which is used for making highly valuable silken cloths. The pupa of silk worm contains fat which is used in soap industries.

3.    LAC INSECTS:

Lac insects produce lac from their bodies which is beneficial for mankind. At the previous time, lac was used to make bangles. Now-a-days, lac is used to close the important official documents inside and dropping lac flame at the opening mouth of envelop and cloth bags.

INSECTS AS SCAVENGER:

Some insect’s acts as scavenger and feed upon decaying flesh and discarded materials. In this way, insects help us to clean our environment. Examples- Beetles flies.

INSECTS FEEDING ON WEEDS:

Harmful weeds like “kala jwar” which is found in east Nepal is controlled by a kind of fly cecidochares utilis. It lays eggs on the tender leaves and stem, produce larva on hatching. When larva produced, they destroy all weeds by consuming them.

INSECT AS ANIMAL FEED:

The insects and their larvae are used as food by man in different parts of the world. The larvae of bees, locusts etc. are used by man for eating. Insects are mostly used in animal feed like in fish meal, poultry meal. Insects are good source of animal protein and fat.

GALL MAKER INSECTS:

Some insects form gall in plants from which tonic acid is produced and used intensively in tanning. From galls, different types of dyes are also made.

USED IN SCIENTIFIC STUDY:

Many insects are used in scientific study in laboratory. Drosophila melanogaster is used in studying hereditary characters because of its short life span and easy to handle.  

INSECTS FOR BEAUTIFICATION AND ENTERTAINMENT:

Some insects produce sweet sound by which man can get entertainment. Butterflies, Beetles are used for decorating rooms. Artists take advantage of the insects by copying their structure and beautiful colors.

CONCLUSION:

We tend to think of “insects” and “bugs” synonymously with words like “harmful” and “pests”. However, only a very small fraction of the world’s insect population cause damage to the crops or harm humans. There are far more insects that can help in some way. Farmers can use techniques to attract beneficial insects to assists with pest management and pollination-and benefit enormously.

For more info Contact:millanpanth@gmail.com

A RESEARCH REPORT ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF RICE INFLUENCED BY VARIETY AND NUMBER OF SEEDLINGS AT SUNDARBAZZAR, LAMJUNG

ABSTRACT

A research to investigate the performance on growth and yield of two varities with regard to various no.of seedlings hill^-1 was conducted at the field of IAAS, Lamjung Campus, Sundarbazar during the period from June 2012 to Dec 2012. The experiment comprised two varieties viz. Makwanpur-1 and Ramdhan-1and three levels of seedlings hill^-1 viz. 1, 2 and 4 seedlings hill^-1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments were randomly distributed to the plots within each block. The interaction effect of the varieties and number of seedlings hill^-1 had significant effect on all the agronomic parameters except non-effective grains panicle^-1, sterility % and harvest index. Results showed that Makawanpur-1 variety of rice when transplanted @ 2 seedlings ^hill-1 yielded the best (8.423 t/ha) than other combinations at Sundarbazar.

KEY WORDS: Makwanpur-1, Ramdhan, number of seedlings/hill, growth and yield.

INTRODUCTION:

Rice(Oryza sativa L.) is generally annual monocot plant belonging to Graminae family. Typically grown in tropical , sub-tropical, as well as in temperate zone of world. The rice plant can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and soil fertility. It has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad.

 Rice has a unique feature in field that rice plants are grown on flooded soils. Temporal dynamics of paddy rice fields can be characterized by three main periods:

(1) the flooding and rice transplanting period;

 (2) the growing period (vegetative growth, reproductive, and ripening stages); and

 (3) the fallow period after harvest.                                      

 As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for large part of world population. It is the grain with the second-highest worldwide production, after maize (FAO,2011).And the majority of world rice is produced from Asian country i.e. about 92% .The  top rice producing countries are china,india,Indonesia.(wiki, 2013)

In context of Nepal, rice is a major cereal crop grown widely in terai and hilly areas. For Nepalese rice is a major constituent’s food for dusk and dawn meal. In 2010(CBS), agriculture accounted for 36.1% of national gross domestic product (GDP).And in the agriculture product-rice comes to the top. Thus, FAO predicted the decrease of agricultural contribution in gross domestic product (2012) due to delayed rainfall and drought period in rice transplanting period.

STATUS OF PADDY PRODUCTION:

Origin: Evidence shows origin of rice form pearl river valley region of china.

	World	Asia	Nepal	Western Hills	Lamjung
Total cultivated area(ha)(000,000)	165	141	1.50	0.14	0.01
Total Production(t) (000,000)	720	650	4.46	3.8	0.03
Total Yields(productivity) (t/ha)	4.363	4.610	2.9	2.6	2.1

*source from FAO, wiki, agricultural statistical data (2010/2011)

      The above table shown statistical low productivity of rice in Nepal in comparisons with asia and world. The major constraints of rice production in Nepal are due to some reasons; the low quality seed, use of inferior variety, lack of irrigation facility, low input of chemical as well as organic fertilizers and lack of knowledge on management practices of high yielding hybrid varieties. Among the various problems, selection of suitable variety according to the eco-zone is also essential. The system of planting, planting density, no. of seedlings per hill, types of variety also influences the growth and yield of rice.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS:

      Among the various problems of rice production in mid hill, selection of suitable rice variety by farmers is one of the major problems(CBS 2004). Similarly, the systems of planting also greatly influence the growth behavior and yield of rice. As rice as a major staple food all over the country and with relevance, the suitable land for rice production in mid hill is very less increasing the productivity of rice in the fixed land is the only way to supplement the demand. The use of no. of seedling/hill can greatly alter the growth and yield of rice.

     While discussing the problems of low productivity of rice, the factor affecting the growth and yield of rice are to be analyzed. Here, we are taking two factors into consideration that affects the yield of rice i.e. variety and no. of seedling/hill.

     The variety itself is differentiated from each other due to its botanical features, adaptability, yield etc. thus selection of suitable variety is justified for the better performance in any specific eco-zone.

     Number of seedling/hill is another important factor for successful rice production because it influences the tiller formation, solar radiation interception, total sunshine reception, nutrient uptake, rate of photosynthesis and other physiological phenomena and ultimately affects the growth and development of rice plant.

OBJECTIVE:

·         To develop a skill and knowledge on growth, development and yield parameters of  rice.

·         To study the improved cultivation practices of rice

·         To develop skill and knowledge on data analysis ,report writing and presentation of result

MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODOLOGY:

1)      FIELD EXPERIMENTATION

The field experiment was conducted in Sundarbazar-5  in the farm of Lamjung Campus in Lamjung district.(800masl, khet land i.e. irrigated condition)

2)      DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT

The experiment will be conducted in two factors Randomized Complete Block Design in three replications and 18 treatment combinations. The treatments will consist of combinations of following two factors:

Factor A: Variety (V)

          V₁: Ram dhan

          V₂: Makwanpur-1

Factor B: No. of seedlings hill^-1(N)

          N₁: One seedling hill^-1

          N₂: Two seedlings hill^-1

          N₃: Four seedlings hill^-1

TREATMENT COMBINATIONS

Treatment	Variety	No. of seedlings
T1	(V2)Makwanpur-1	(N1)One seedling hill-1
T2	(V2)Makwanpur-1	(N2)Two seedlings hill-1
T3	(V2)Makwanpur-1	(N3)Four seedlings hill-1
T4	(V1) Ramdhan	(N1) One seedling hill-1
T5	(V1) Ramdhan	(N2)Two seedlings hill-1
T6	(V1) Ramdhan	(N3)Four seedlings hill-1

Construction of ANOVA table:

Source of variance	DF	SS	MS	F-value	F tabulated (0.05)|(0.01)
Treatment	t-1= 6	TS­S
Replication	r-1=2	RSS
Error	(t-1)(r-1)=12	ESS
Total	(n-1)

**significance at 5% level of significance

PLOT SIZE OF EXPERIMENTS

Area of each plot: 4×2.1 m²

Space between plots: 0.5 m

Space between blocks: 1 m

2.1  LAYOUT OF EXPERIMENTAL FIELD

T

 

T

T

T

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T

T

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T

T

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LAYOUT OF INDIVIDUAL PLOT

50cm

2.1m

 

                                                               4m    

Plot size= 4×2.1 m=8.4 m²

Gross plot=8.4 m²

Net plot= 8.4 m²-(area for destructible sample + area of boundary rows)

             =8.4-(4 0.6+4×0.4)

             =4.4 m².

3)      CROPPING PATTERN

Fallow- rice-fallow.

4 ) INTERCULTURAL OPERATIONS

       Weed management is important task for good production. Thus, we also performed weeding by hand. First weeding: 30 DAT (2069/05/06)

           Second weeding: 60 DAT (2069/06/06)

5)  NURSERY MANAGEMENT

Nursery was established by farmer near the Agronomic field of IAAS, Lamjung, Sundarbazar. We used the 33 days old seedling for transplanting in our experiment.

LAND PREPERATION

We selected land for rice transplanting and, was flooded before one fortnight of transplanting to saturate it with water on 2069/03/021.

At the day of transplanting, i.e. 2069/04/06, the recommended FYM- 281 kg was applied to the unprepared field and the land was ploughed with indigeneous plough to change the physical structure of soil and to suppress the weeds’ growth. The field was then puddled by ploughing the land with standing water so as to create an impervious layer below the surface to reduce deep percolation losses of water and to provide soft seed bed for planting rice. For this, the earthern bunds were created around the field and 5-10 cm water was applied. The field, after being puddled, was leveled by a leveling board.

FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT

 The required amount of well decomposed FYM (281kg) was applied as the source of organic manures @ 10 t ha-1 before the first ploughing of the land on 2069/04/06. Source of nitrogen was Urea, source of phosphorous was DAP and source of potassium was Murate of potash. Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium was applied@ 60:30:30 kg ha-1 respectively. Total phosphorus and potassium and half of nitrogen were applied as basal dose and remaining half dose of nitrogen applied as on visualizing proper stage of nitrogen need, to the plant. i.e.

            Recommended dose: 60:30:30 Kg NPK/ha

                               FYM: 10 t/ha                                                              

Application method:

                      30:30:30 kg NPK/ha as basal dose

30:0:0 Kg NPK/ha as topdressing on visualizing proper stage of nitrogen need, the plant

 For this, the required amounts of various fertilizers for 281 m² area (aprox. area of the experimental land) were calculated as:

                                                 FYM: 281 kg

                                                 DAP: 1.83 kg

                                                 Urea: 1.115 kg

                                                 MOP: 1.41 kg

The calculated amount was weighed and mixed in a bucket. The mixture was then broadcasted into the experimental plot.

Top dressing of nitrogen was done at 60 DAT on 2069/06/06 by calculating the amount of urea needed per plot of area 8.4 m². The calculated 54.78 gm of urea was weighed and broadcasted within each plot separately after the second weeding.

SEEDLING TRANSPLANTING:

The 33 days old seedling was transplanted on 2069/04/06 in the experimental field.  Spacing between hills in a row is 20cm and between the rows is 20 cm. There were 1, 2&4 seedlings planted.

 WEED MANAGEMENT

 The first hand weeding was done at 63 DAT (2069/05/06) and 2^nd weeding was done at 60 DAT (2069/06/06). The uprooted weeds were buried in the field.

WATER MANAGEMENT

The experimental field for rice planting was flooded before one fortnight of transplanting to saturate with water on 2069/03/21.

Earthen bunds are maintained around the field to pulled the field Water of 5-10 cm was maintained in the field throughout the rice growing season.

HARVESTING

We had harvested both variety at the date of 2069/08/26, through the variety were early variety, harvesting could not be preformed at time due to educational tour to India. Harvesting was done manually using a sickle. The rice hills of net 6 plots were harvested separetly from the plot and border row harvested separetely.

THERESHING

At the date of 2069/08/27, threshing of the rice plants of the net plot were threshed separately from that of the border rows and destructible sample rows. The threshed grain were then cleaned by removing husks and dirts and weighed.

 GROWTH ANALYSIS PARAMETERS AND YIELD ATTRIBUTES

During and after harvesting and threshing of rice, we observed the following growth analyzing and yield attributing parameters of rice:

Plant height: 

Ten plants were randomly selected in each plot and height was recorded at (176days). It was measured from the base to the top of the longest flag leaf of main tiller. The average of 10 plants was expressed as the plant height of individual treatment. 

No. of effective tillers/m2 (n=10)

The filled grain tillers from the 10 hills were counted just before harvesting (at176days) and the average values was taken used to obtain effective no of tiller.

No. of non-effective tillers/m2 (n=10)

The unfilled grain, damaged tiller were counted and average no of non-effective tiller/m² was noted.

Panicle length (n=10)

The 10 panicle were chosen and the panicle length was taken in such a way that it is measured from the first node to the maximum height of the panicle

No. of effective grains/panicle

The no of effective grain were counted from 10 panicles was taken for test weight and calculated average no of grain per panicle.  

 No. of non-effective grains/panicle (husk)

 The no of non-effective grain per panicle were counted from ten panicles, non effective are diseased, not viable and taken average no of non-effective grain.

 Test wt: The test weight was taken by counted 1000 no. of grain from weighted by the help of digital balance.

 Biological yield                                                                                                                                           The  crop was harvested from 6 rows and weighted  by balance.

 Grain yield and straw yield:                                                                                                                    The six rows were harvested and threshed and clean and weighted , finded grain yield. Taken 1kg straw and dryed by sun light and helped for find out average straw yield.

                          Harvest index                                                                                                                        Harvest index (HI) was calculated by dividing grain yield (economic yield) with the total dry matter yield (biological) as per the following formula.

                                HI% =       (grain yield × 100)/ (grain yield + straw yield)

  Sterility %

                   The unfilled grain was counted from 10 panicle and calculated sterility %

         

                                       No. of unfilled grains

    Sterility%   =                                                           ×100

                                         Total no. of grains

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Among the various ways of statistical analysis of the observed data, we used MSTATC version  1.2 . the analysis was done on Experiment Model Number 7 one factor Randomized Complete Block Design.

For observing the LSD value, DMRT was done.

 The no. of treatments was less so as to obtain the lowest degree of freedom, i.e. 12, for conducting DMRT by MSTATC application. Hence, we added one mean value of the observations as treatment no. 7 just for obtaining the LSD value through the application.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUTION

Finally, we were able to develop different skills and get knowledge in growth and development of rice. And develop the skill and knowledge regarding on data analysis.

From the our experiment ,we have concluded that the combination of Makwanpur-1 variety with 2 seedling  hill^-1 as the best combination for growing rice among two varieties, viz.Makwanpur-1 and Ramdhan at the field condition of sundarbazar as it gives the best yield among the used treatment.

The national productivity of variety Makwanpur-1 was 3.43 t/ha (L. P. Amgain and J. Timsina) but in the experiment it seemed to have greater productivity than expected. In spite of some experimental errors, this variety is recommended in the domain of Sundarbazzar and the surrounding area.

CALENDER OF OPERATION

Table no. 4: Calendar of operation

S.N.	Activities	Date
1.	Land preparation	2069/04/06
2.	Basal dose fertilizer application	2069/04/06
3.	Transplanting	2069/04/06
4.	First weeding	2069/05/06
5.	Second weeding	2069/06/06
6.	Nitrogen top dressing	2069/06/06
7.	Harvesting	2069/08/26
8.	Threshing	2069/08/27

REFERENCES

·         Agricultural statistical data ,FAO

·         Krishi diary , 2069 .

·         Joshi , N.P, Maharjan , K. L and piya L . Production Economics of Rice in different Development  Region of Nepal

·         Roshan , M . N , Azarpour E. and Moradi M. Study of Yield Components of Rice in Different plant Spacing and Number of Seedling per Hill.

·         S.S. Islam , M .H .A . Amin , S. Parvin , A.S.M. Amanulla and A.S.M. Ahanullah , (2010) . Effect of Number OF Seedling and level of Nitrogen on Growth and Yield of Transplant Aman Rice cv. BRRI Dhan41.

·         Rahman ,MH ,Khatun ,M. M. ,Mamum , M.A.A., Islam ,M .R. 2007 . Effect of Number of seedling Hill^-1 and Nitrogen Level on Growth and Yield of BRRI Dhan32. J. Soil .                                                 Nature.1(2):01-07

·         Shah¹ M.L. , Yadav¹ R. Response of Rice Varieties to Age of Seedlings and Transplanting Dates 

·         MOA ,2067/68 .

·         IRRI , 2010 .