Observations on the pre-harvest infestation of paddy by stored grain pests in Bangladesh

Investigations on the pre-harvest infestation of paddy by stored grain pests were carried out in the Dhaka district of Bangladesh. Paddy heads were drawn from fields located at various distances from rice and paddy stores at different times before harvest, and only Sitotroga cerealella Olivier emerged. No insects emerged from samples collected 12 days before harvest but numbers increased to around one per spikelet the day before harvest. Numbers decreased as the distance from the store increased from 10 to 1440 m.