Abstract
The rice stem borer (RSB), Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is an important agricultural pest that has caused serious economic losses in the major rice-producing areas of China. To effectively control this pest, we investigated the genetic diversity, genetic differentiation and genetic structure of 16 overwintering populations in the typical bivoltine areas of northern China based on 12 nuclear microsatellite loci. Moderate levels of genetic diversity and genetic differentiation among the studied populations were detected. Neighbour-joining dendrograms, Bayesian clustering and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) consistently divided these populations into three genetic clades: western, eastern and northern/central. Isolation by distance (IBD) and spatial autocorrelation analyses demonstrated no correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance. Bottleneck analysis illustrated that RSB populations had not undergone severe bottleneck effects in these regions. Accordingly, our results provide new insights into the genetic relationships of overwintering RSB populations and thus contribute to developing effective management strategies for this pest.
Highlights
The rice stem borer (RSB), Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is a devastating rice pest in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Oceania [1]
The basic summary statistics of genetic variation among different RSB populations in the typical bivoltine areas of northern China are presented in S5 Table
We found a moderate level of genetic differentiation among these overwintering RSB populations in the typical bivoltine areas of northern China based on microsatellite data, which was consistent with previously reported findings
Summary
The rice stem borer (RSB), Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is a devastating rice pest in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Oceania [1]. It attacks rice plants from the seedling stage to maturity and causes deadhearts and whiteheads [2,3]. RSB can damage seedlings to the point of withering and can cause losses of 526 kg per hectare in rice [4] It has infested over 2.12 million hectares in northern China. It occurs throughout the main rice-producing areas of Liaoning Province, Northeast China, which are among the typical bivoltine regions in China, and it can cause 5–20% rice yield loss [5,6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
