Smothering of ear head in paddy is the damage symptom of what?

Correct option is A

Rice Earhead Bug – Leptocorisa acuta
Symptoms of Damage:
· Sucks sap from grains during milky stage.
· Causes brownish patches, chaffy grains, and erect panicles.
· Black feeding spots on grains.
· Buggy/obnoxious smell when disturbed.
· Yield loss up to 50% in severe cases.

Nature of Damage:
· Both adults and nymphs feed on leaf tips and developing grains.
· Feeding causes ill-filled or empty grains.
· Foul smell makes straw unattractive to cattle.

Identification:
· Eggs: Brown, seed-like, laid in 2 rows along leaf midrib.
· Nymphs: Pale to deep green, small (2 mm).
· Adults: Greenish-yellow, long and slender, with strong odour.


Management Strategies:
Cultural Control:
· Early planting and weed removal.
· Remove alternate hosts (grasses on bunds).
· Handpick bugs or use nets.
· Use coarse-grain/bearded cultivars (e.g., TMK 9).
· Place attractants like dead snails/rats.

Chemical Control:
· ETL: 5 bugs/100 earheads (flowering), 16 bugs/100 earheads (milky stage).
· Apply:
· Fenthion 100 EC @ 500 ml/ha
· Malathion 50 EC @ 500 ml/ha (Twice – once at flowering, then after a week)
· Use KKM dust (10% Acorus calamus + 90% fly ash) to repel bugs.
· Spray either before 9 a.m. or after 3 p.m. to avoid affecting fertilization.

Botanical Control:
· Use 5% extracts of any of these at 25 kg/ha:
· Neem seed kernel
· Notchi leaves
· Ipomoea leaves
· Prosopis leaves

Biological Control:
· Wasps parasitize eggs.
· Spiders, beetles, dragonflies feed on bugs.
· Fungal infections affect nymphs and adults.