Use of banker plant system for sustainable management of the most important insect pest in rice fields in China

Xusong Zheng,Pingyang Zhu,Facheng Zhang,Christian Nansen,Guihua Chen,Yanhui Lu,Zhongxian Lu,Hongxing Xu,Junce Tian

doi:10.1038/srep45581

Abstract

To meet the World’s food demand, there is a growing need for sustainable pest management practices. This study describes the results from complementary laboratory and field studies of a “banker plant system” for sustainable management of the rice brown planthopper (BPH) (Nilaparvata lugens Stål) – the economically most important rice pest in Asian rice growing areas. The banker plant system consisted of planting a grass species, Leersia sayanuka, adjacent to rice fields. L. sayanuka is the host plant of a planthopper, Nilaparvata muiri. An egg parasitoid, Anagrus nilaparvatae, parasitizes eggs of both BPH and N. muiri, and its establishment and persistence are improved through plantings of L. sayanuka and thereby attraction of N. muiri. Laboratory results showed that BPH was unable to complete its life cycle on L. sayanuka, and N. muiri could not complete its life cycle on rice. Thus, planting L. sayanuka did not increase the risk of planthopper damage to rice fields. Field studies showed that BPH densities were significantly lower in rice fields with banker plant system compared to control rice fields without banker plant system.

Highlights

The hypothesis tested in this study is that N. muiri does not attack rice plants, and that is an alternative host for an egg parasitoid, Anagrus nilaparvatae, which is the main natural enemy of BPH
Even in conditions of low pest density natural enemies could maintain sufficient populations on alternative hosts from the banker plants[28]. This method can be more economical than other classical biological control methods that require more manpower and material resources[25,29]
The use of banker plants which are common and easy to cultivate as in the case of Leersia can be introduced as an ecological engineering method

Summary

Introduction

The hypothesis tested in this study is that N. muiri does not attack rice plants, and that is an alternative host for an egg parasitoid, Anagrus nilaparvatae, which is the main natural enemy of BPH. Results Parasitism of A. nilaparvatae to eggs of both BPH and N. muiri derived from different host plants. There were no significant differences in the parasitism of A. nilaparvatae to BPH eggs from two host plants (t-test: t = 0.484, df = 58, p = 0.876).

Results

Conclusion