Thrips are insects that belong to the order Thysanoptera and are characterized by their slender bodies and fringed wings. Stenchaetothrips biformis is the scientific name for Thrips. They cause damage to host plants by puncturing the epidermal layer and sucking out the cell contents. This results in stippling, discoloration, and silvering of the leaves. Let’s check out more information on Thrips management in Paddy farming below.
Thrips feeding is accompanied by black varnish-like flecks of frass, which is their excrement. Thrips can be a significant pest problem for Rice crops. Paddy is widely grown in Asia, Africa, and South America and is the most important staple food. The plant produces small, edible grains harvested, threshed, and polished to make rice.
Thrips management in Paddy
The life cycle of Thrips
- Thrips go through two actively feeding larval stages, two non-feeding larval stages (prepupa and pupa), and finally, maturity.
- Females lay their eggs on or in leaves, buds, and other places where larvae eat.
- Most species’ prepupae and pupae fall to the earth or leaf litter or lodge in plant fissures or galls.
- Thrips pupate openly on lower leaf surfaces. On the other hand, some gall-forming species pupate on leaf surfaces but are surrounded by deformed plant tissue.
- Thrips reproduce multiple times yearly; the complete life cycle can take as little as two weeks in warm conditions.
- Thrips have a distinct life cycle that contributes to their potential to harm crops and ornamental plants.
Factors favoring population increase of Thrips in the field
Dry and warm weather promotes population growth, while humidity inhibits it. Wind, clothes, equipment, and containers that have yet to be thoroughly cleaned after working can readily carry adults. Generally feeds on many species of thrips feed on fungal spores and pollen and are often harmful.
Identification of Thrips in the rice field
- Egg: A newly placed egg is hyaline and turns pale yellow as it matures. The egg is incredibly little, measuring 0.25 mm in length.
- Nymph: Neonates are translucent until the second molting when they turn pale yellow. Second-instar nymphs have slightly darker legs, heads, and antennae than first-instar larvae.
- Pupa: The pupa has long wing pads that extend two-thirds of the way down the abdomen. The ninth abdominal tergite similarly features four pointed processes. Brown is the color of the pre-pupa.
- Adult: The adult has a slim build. It’s dark brown and around 1-2 mm in length. It comes in two varieties: winged and wingless. The winged shape has two sets of extended narrow wings with long hair fringes.
In case you missed it: Planthopper Management in Paddy: Symptoms, Treatment, Chemical, Biological, Natural, and Organic Control
Damage symptoms of Thrips in the rice field
- Young seedling leaves have discoloration and rolling.
- Yellow (or) silvery streaks.
- Terminal leaf rolling and drying from tip to base
- It harms both the nursery and the main field.
- When extensively afflicted, leaf tips wither.
- At the panicle stage, unfilled granules
- Silvering occurs on the tops of lea