Impact of Silicon on Sugarcane Leafhopper, Pyrilla perpusilla Walker by Enhancing Parasitism of Epiricania melanoleuca (Fletcher)

To evaluate the effect of four silicon fertilizers, field experiment was conducted in farmer’s holding at Poovanthi village of Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu during 2017-2018 against sugarcane leaf hopper, Pyrilla perpusilla Walker and its parasitoid, Epiricania melanoleuca (Fletcher). Silicon fertilizers were applied @ 500 and 1000 kg ha^-1 before planting and the leaf hopper population was recorded at 150, 180, 210, 240 and 270 days after application. The results of field experiment revealed that Pyrilla population was minimum in the plots treated with calcium silicate @ 1000 kg ha^-1 (8.20 numbers/leaf) followed by calcium silicate @ 500 kg ha^-1 (8.80 numbers/leaf) as compared over untreated check (98.20 numbers/leaf) and the percent reduction over untreated check was 82.45 and 73.71 per cent, respectively. Similarly, the per cent parasitism was maximum in the treatment with calcium silicate @ 1000 kg ha^-1 (82.33%) during November, which was on par with untreated check. Hence, Pyrilla population declined to an extent of 82.45 per cent by enhancement of E. melanoleuca parasitism (82.33 %) due to the application of silicon fertilizers.