Yellow Stem Borer
Scirpophaga incertulas
📖 Description
Yellow Stem Borer is the most widespread and damaging stem borer of rice in the Indian subcontinent, causing an estimated 30-50% yield loss annually. Female moths lay eggs in masses on the underside of leaves. Newly hatched larvae hang from silken threads and disperse to tillers, where they bore into the stem and feed on the inner tissue. Larval feeding at the vegetative stage causes ‘deadheart’ (central shoot dries up); damage at the reproductive stage produces ‘white earheads’ (empty white panicles). Because larvae feed internally, chemical control is most effective when applied before the larvae enter the stem — typically timed with pheromone trap catches and egg-laying period.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Deadheart (drying of central shoot) at vegetative stage
- white earheads (empty white panicles) at reproductive stage
- holes in stems with frass
- broken stems at base
- yield loss up to 50-60%
🩹 Treatment
- Install pheromone traps @ 8/ha for monitoring and mass trapping
- release Trichogramma japonicum @ 50
- 000/ha at vegetative stage
- apply neem cake @ 250 kg/ha as basal
- clip leaf tips to destroy egg masses
- use recommended insecticides when deadhearts appear
🌿 Organic treatments
- Install pheromone traps @ 8/ha
- release Trichogramma japonicum @ 50
- 000/ha weekly
- clip leaf tips to remove egg masses
- apply neem cake @ 250 kg/ha basal
- light traps @ 1/ha
- apply Bacillus thuringiensis @ 2 g/L
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Cartap hydrochloride 50 SP @ 2 g/L
- Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 0.3 ml/L
- Fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/L
- Phorate 10 G @ 10 kg/ha granules at 30 DAT
- Carbofuran 3G @ 25 kg/ha
🛡️ Prevention
- Plant resistant varieties (Pusa 44, IR64)
- synchronous planting
- remove stubbles after harvest and plough to expose pupae
- clip seedling tips before transplanting to destroy eggs
- avoid excessive nitrogen
- conserve spiders and predatory bugs
- light trapping during moth flights
🪴 Affected plants
- Rice
- Wild Rice
- Some Grasses
🦋 Natural predators
- Trichogramma japonicum
- Tetrastichus schoenobii
- Spiders
- Carabid Beetles
- Crickets
🌱 Host plants
- Oryza sativa
- Oryza rufipogon
- Leersia hexandra
- Echinochloa spp.
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 100-300 eggs in 1-3 masses on the underside of leaves.
- Eggs hatch in 5-8 days.
- Larvae bore into stems and feed for 25-40 days, passing through 5-7 instars.
- Pupation occurs inside the stem or stubble, lasting 6-12 days.
- Adults live 4-7 days.
- Total life cycle 40-60 days; 4-6 generations per year.
📅 Season
- Active Jun-Oct during Kharif and Jan-Apr during Rabi, peak at tillering and panicle initiation
🔎 Appearance
- Females are yellowish-white moths with a black spot in the center of each forewing and a tuft of yellowish-orange hairs at the abdomen tip.
- Males are smaller and lighter.
- Larvae are cream-colored with a brown head, growing up to 25 mm.
💥 Damage level
- High
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Fast
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- Southeast Asia
- East Asia
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