Identification of Optimum Time for Brown Planthopper (Nilaparvata Lugens) Sampling using the Light Traps

Abstract

Monitoring brown planthopper (BPH) populations is essential to prevent damage and loss of paddy yields. Malaysia Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) has developed a light trap system to monitor the BPH pest population. Compared to the manual process, this system increased the efficiency of monitoring BPH pests by 50%.  As the power source of the light trap system is limited, the time to capture the pest is limited to avoid the complication of counting the BPH population. Therefore, the objective of this study is to find the best time to capture the BPH samples that represent the actual BPH population of the night. Three light traps were installed at a paddy plot, MARDI Parit, Perak, Malaysia, to determine the best possible time for sampling. The experiment was carried out from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. At every one-hour interval, samples were taken, and the number of BPH trapped by each light trap system was manually counted. The result shows that the optimal time to capture BPH is between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. By using a one-hour sampling time interval, the efficiency of monitoring the population can be increased and, at the same time, minimize power consumption of the light trap.