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Biological control of brown planthopper in Indonesia”



A project entitled “Biological control of brown planthopper in 
Indonesia” lead by Professor M. F. Claridge, of, School of Pure and 
Applied Biology, United Kingdom, in partnership with other 
scientific institutions in Indonesia, Deutschland and United 
Kingdom was carried out under the European Union (D.G.XII) STD2 
scientific programme.

As it is said in the introduction of the summary report “ rice is 
among the world’s food crops, providing a staple food for more than 
two billion people in Asia and hundreds of millions of people in 
Africa and Latin America. In order to achieve sustainable 
agriculture it is necessary to develop a biological control 
strategy as part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Biological 
control of the brown planthopper (BHP), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) 
(Homoptera, Delphacidae), is an important component of rice IPM.”
The objective of the project was the brown planthopper (BHP) and 
the field study was carried out in 1991 and 1992, considering two 
sites, a high and a low density area in relation to the pest 
population.
Although different natural enemies were present, the parasitoid 
complex was dominated in number by Oligosita species, according to 
parasitism experiments which shown a 50 % reduction on egg hatching 
of BHP when plants were exposed to the activity of the parasitoids.
Another part of the biological control of BHP included the study of 
entomopathogenic fungal natural enemies of the pest. Different 
strains of several species of fungi, were studied under laboratory 
conditions, focusing their effects on the mortality of BHP. 
Metarhizium anispliae showed good results in relation to the 
mortality of BHP under laboratory conditions, effect which was 
confirmed for one strain in an experiment carried out under 
greenhouse conditions. Some laboratory work was also done with 
species Hirsutella citriformis, M. flavoviride and Beauveria 
bassiana. Results of applications in the field were not adequately 
consistent.
The study shows interesting perspectives regarding the control of 
BHP, but further work is still needed in order to put in practice 
the objectives of the biological control of this pest in rice both 
by arthropod or fungi as natural enemies.

Within this project several publications have been issued.

For further information please contact:

Professor M. F. Claridge 
University of Wales, Cardiff
School of Pure and Applied Biology 
POB 915 - Cardiff CF1 3TL, U. K.
Phone +44-222 87 48 04
Fax     +44-222 87 43 05


CONTRACT TS2- A -255