Studies on the Natural Infection of the Entomogenous Fungus, Beauveria velata Sams. & Evans on Some Pests of Low Land Rice Ecosystem

In Arunachal Pradesh, rice is "the principal food crop, being grown in an area of 1,16, 500 ha (Anon, 1988). The crop is cultivated. During Kharif season . In diverse ecological conditions ranging from jhum land/upland/rain fed conditions and low land having irrigated fields. Insect pests (Tablet) .contributesubstantially to low yields. Informtion pertaining to natural enemies of rice pests in this region has been reported earlier (Padmanaban et al., 1990; Padmanaban and Chaudhary, 1991). First occurrence of Beauveria velata Sams. And Evans. Infecting larvae of Arctiidae was reported by Samson and Evans . (1982). Subsequently it was reported infecting the lepidopteran rice pests (Padmanaban et al., 1990) (CMI Herb No. 331750 and 331751). In this communication, incidence of B. velata in relation to some lepidopteran rice pests is presented along with abiotic factors.