Thrips

• Laceration of the tender leaves and suck the plant sap
  
• Yellow (or) silvery streaks on the leaves of young seedlings.
• Terminal rolling and drying of leaves from tip to base.
• Damaged leaves roll inwards along the margins, feeding causes leaf drying resulting poor crop growth. The damage is severe under water stress conditions.
• It causes damage both in nursery and main field.

Both the adults and nymphs lacerate the tender leaves and suck up the plant sap. As a result fine yellowish lines or silvery streaks are seen on the leaves. Later, the leaves curl longitudinally and begin to dry from the tip downwards In severe cases, the entire nursery may dry up and fail to produce seedling. Sometimes transplanted crop is also affected in the early stages.

• Egg :
  Eggs are laid singly in the tissues of the tender leaves on the sides facing the stem. Eggs are hyaline and turn pale yellow as they mature. Eggs are laid in the slits of leaf blade tissue. The upper half of the egg is exposed.
  
  
• Nymph :
  Newly hatched nymphs are transparent but turn yellowish white after the first molt and possess darker legs, head and antennae. Neonate larvae feed on the soft tissues of unopened young leaves.
  
  
• Pupa :
  Pupation takes place inside the rolled leaves and appendages and wings are clearly visible.
  
  
• Adult :
  Adult is 1mm long, dark brown to black in colour with fringed wings. Male is smaller, more slender than female. It reproduces partheno-genetically since males are seldom seen in the population.

• Submerge infected crops intermittently for 1-2 days.
• Drag a wet cloth on the seedlings.
• Flooding to submerge the infested field for 2 days as a cultural control practice is very effective against the rice thrips.
• There are identified cultivars with known resistance to the rice thrips.
• Use resistant/tolerant varieties.

• ETL : Sampling: Wet your palm with water and pass over the foliage in 12 places in the nursery. If thrips population exceeds 60 numbers in 12 passes or if rolling of 1/2 area of first and 2nd leaves in 10% of seedlings is noticed
  
  
• Spray any one of the following in nursery stage :
  Phosphamidon 40 SL 50 ml
  
  
• Spray any one of the following in main field stage
  Phosphamidon 40 SL 50 ml
  

• Predatory thrips, coccinellid beetles, anthocorid bugs, and staphylinid beetles are biological control agents that feed on both the nymph and adults.