DIVERSITY AND DAMAGE SEVERITY OF INSECT PESTS OF WHEAT IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The study was undertaken to evaluate diversity and damage severity of insect pests of wheat under 60 upazilas of 20 major wheat growing districts of Bangladesh. Insect pests of wheat were recorded from the farmer’s information and field survey data during November 2014 to February 2015. Data were recorded from both farmer’s information and field survey. From both farmer’s information and field survey data, 11 field insects and 7 storage insects were found in Bangladesh. The recorded field insects were grasshopper, termite, wheat aphid, wireworms, cereal leaf beetle, flea beetle, white grub, cutworm, pink borer, leaf eating caterpillar and shoot fly. Storage insects were khapra beetle, rice weevil, rust-red flour beetle, lesser grain borer, sawtoothed grain beetle, rice moth and rice meal moth. Under the present study, Comilla, Lakshmipur, Noakhali, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Bogra, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Kushtia, Jhenaidah, Jessore, Sirajganj, Rajshahi, Naogaon, Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Pabna, Faridpur, Barisal districts were under observation. It was observed that among the entire field insect, wheat aphid was recorded as major pest of wheat with high level of infestation (farmer’s information 11.95 ± 3.30 percent and field survey data 10.23 ± 3.42 percent of infestation) and severity. All other field insects were observed as minor pest with low level of severity. Again, in terms of storage insect pests, all the entire insects were observed as minor pest. Among them khapra beetle, rice weevil and rust-red flour beetle were more harmful for storage grain and especially, rice weevil was recorded as minor storage pest of wheat with medium level of infestation (farmer’s information 7.78 ± 0.68 percent and field survey data 6.43 ± 1.70 percent of infestation) and severity.