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Survey shows increased spider diversity in rice ecosystems through azolla and intercropping, suggesting enhanced pest control.
Spiders have the ability to build in high population densities in short span of time and their general insectivorous behavior makes the m generalist super predators in rice ecosystem. Survey of spiders in rice ecosystem resulted 11, 17 and 18 different species during Kuruvai, Samba and Thaladi seasons, respectively. Intercropping of Sesbania rostrata (8:1) or application of azolla @2 kg /40 m2 favoured higher numbers of 4.90 and 4.59 spiders per hill while NSKE 5%/ insecticide/fungicide spray based on ETL recorded populations equal to that of untreated plots. Spraying of insecticide on calendar basis recorded significantly the lowest numbers of spiders (3.34/hill.)
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Samiayyan et al. (2009) studied this question.
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