RTMC, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic Recent Developments in Rice Entomology Mo Way, Rebecca Pearson and Many, Many Others! Texas A&M AgriLife Research, 409-658- 2186 or [email protected] • 35 years at Beaumont Center! • 100% research appointment (reality: 50% research; 50% extension) • Commodities: primarily rice, but also soybeans, sugarcane/energycane and grain sorghum • Close link to stakeholders: off-campus location and check-off $$ • Texas Rice Research Foundation: 5 cents per cwt to research; 3 cents per cwt to promotion • Role of grad students • Work closely with rice industry (Regulatory and Food Safety Committee; US Rice Producers Association), agrichemical companies and regulatory agencies (TDA and EPA) Rice Production
• The most important crop worldwide for human nutrition • Source of 1/5 of all calories consumed by humankind Rice Production • US rice produced in AR, CA, LA, MO, MS and TX • 50% of rice consumed; 50% exported • TX and other southern rice- producing states grow mainly long and some medium grain rice • CA grows medium and short grain rice Rice Production in Texas
• TX = 160,000 A in 2017; acreage has gradually decreased due to increased production costs, increased rice acreage in other states and WATER crisis 2011 – 2014 – 2–3 ac-ft of water to irrigate rice now; down from 4-6 ac-ft • Rice fields provide food and habitat for wildlife (300 lb/A unharvested grain) Texas Rice Belt Basic Texas Rice Production
• Stale seed bed • Drill-seed mid-Mar to mid- Apr • Flush; repeated flushes then flood about 3-5 weeks after emergence Basic Texas Rice Production • Weeds main constraint to rice production • Tank mix pyrethroids • Apply herbicides at planting, early and late post- emergence Basic Texas Rice Production
• Apply N (at planting, before flood and at panicle differentiation) • Hybrid seed: ca. $140/A! (60% of acreage); low SR (20-25 lb/A) • Harvest before Aug 15; ratoon crop increasingly important • Ca. $1200/A = production costs • Price of rice ca. $14/cwt; break even need to yield 8600 lb/A! • Organic rice acreage increasing! Basic Texas Rice Production
• Ratoon crop: harvest main crop; apply N; flood; harvest Sep/Oct • Ratoon crop ⅓ – ½ main crop yield (60% of rice acreage ratooned) Insect Pests of Texas Rice
• Rice water weevil, Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus • Eggs laid under water in rice culms; larvae move to roots and feed; egg-adult about 6-8 weeks; 2-3 generations annually • Bisexual and parthenogenetic Rice Water Weevil • Native to Southeastern US; semi-aquatic; broad weed host range including many grasses (overwinter in perennial clump grasses like Paspalum spp.) • Introduced into CA in 1960s; Japan in the late 1970s---now found in North and South Korea, China, Taiwan, Italy and Spain; related species in Central and South America; KEY PEST in many countries!
Biological Control
• Nematode, fungi and rodents attack overwintering adults • Evaluated Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki/tenebrionis; commercial formulation of nematodes, not effective Cultural Control
• Drain fields after flood – Fields must dry to cracking – Reflood water expensive – Lose fertilizer and weeds can gain foothold – Encourages blast disease Cultural Control
• Delay flood until rice is better able to withstand attack – More flushes required (more water and weed problems) – Can put rice under water stress and delay maturity • Plant later – Populations are lower, but yields decrease dramatically after mid-Apr planting date – Run the risk of not ratooning Cultural Control
• Increase seeding rate – Better stands can dilute pressure – Rice water weevils prefer thin plant stands and deep water; adjust water depth Genetic Control – Protected vs. Unprotected Plots • In general, medium grain varieties very susceptible (but exhibit tolerance) • Hybrids (XL723, CLXL8 and CLXL729 moderately resistant) • More work needs to be done Rice Plots with Barriers RWW Sampling
1 larva/core reduces yield ca. 75 lb/A RWW Core Processing RWW Economic Injury Levels Insecticidal Control
• In the mid 1990s only Furadan 3G available; banned by EPA due to duck/geese kills in CA (misuse of product) • CruiserMaxx Rice (thiamethoxam + 3 fungicides), Dermacor X-100 (rynaxypyr) and NipsIt INSIDE ( clothianidin) labeled in Texas for array of insect pests of rice Rice water weevil
Sugarcane Rice stalk Mexican Fall armyworm borer borer rice borer Grape colaspis Chinch bug Aphids
Thrips Black bug Leafhoppers • Virtually all TX rice acreage planted with seed treated with an insecticide Reduced Rates of Dermacor X-100. Beaumont, TX.
RWW/5 cores Rate Yield Variety Treatment (fl oz/cwt) Jun 19 Jun 28 WHs/4 rows (lb/A) CL162 Dermacor X-100 2.5 8.3 CD 2.5 D 0 C 6964 CD CL162 Dermacor X-100 3.5 6.5 D 2.3 D 0.3 C 7238 C CL162 CruiserMaxx Rice 7 23.5 BC 7.8 BCD 13.5 A 6953 CD CL162 Untreated --- 81.8 A 21.8 A 6.5 B 6234 D XP753 Dermacor X-100 4 8.0 CD 14.3 ABC 0 C 9894 A XP753 Dermacor X-100 5 8.3 CD 5.3 CD 0.3 C 9892 A XP753 Dermacor X-100 8.75 5.0 D 3.3 D 0 C 10232 A XP753 CruiserMaxx Rice 7 38.5 B 17.5 AB 0 C 9666 AB XP753 Untreated --- 100.3 A 26.3 A 0.5 C 8794 B CL162 = 50 lb/A XP753 = 20 lb/A
Rice Stink Bug, Oebalus pugnax
• Native to the Southeastern US • Overwinters as adult in litter and grasses; builds up populations on grass weeds and grain sorghum then moves to heading rice Cultural Control
• Plant early so heading does not coincide with high populations (populations tend > with time) • Control grassy weeds in and around field • Encourage uniformity in crop---reduces window of vulnerability • Beware of adjacent sorghum Reproductive Growth Stages
Flowering
Milk
Soft Hard Dough Dough Insecticidal Control
• Lost methyl parathion in 2013 • 3 pyrethroids, cabaryl and Tenchu 20SG (dinotefuran) • Avg no. of applications for rice stink bug = 3-5 before Tenchu 20SG (dinotefuran); now farmers spray 1-2 times Cage Studies RSB treatment thresholds Average number of RSBs1/10 sweeps Projected yield Soft Hard Heading Milk (lb/acre) dough dough 4500 8 10 17 47 6000 10 14 22 63 7500 13 17 28 79 9000 16 21 34 94 1Includes adults and older nymphs (4th and 5th instars). Need to revise for hybrids Tenchu 20SG (dinotefuran) Section 3 Label • Texas farmers are happy with Tenchu 20SG • Data show Texas RSBs harder to control than RSBs in other states LC50 of RSB Exposed to λ-cyhalothrin in Adult Vial Test. 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6
LC50 (ug/vial) 0.4 0.2 0 Bt rice experiment. Ganado, TX.
Bored No. SCB larvae/plant culms/5 No. RWW/5 Yield Line plants Live Dead cores (lb/A) 1 insect resistant 0.0 B 0.1 B 25.8 A 94.0 4612 B 1 control 14.6 A 25.1 A 0.0 B 86.5 226 C 2 insect resistant 0.0 B 0.1 B 31.3 A 95.0 5403 A 2 control 14.7 A 25.3 A 0.0 B 107.3 190 C Other Critters (0 – 8 Legs)! • Cottonmouths, Alligators, Blackbirds, Panicle Rice Mites, Feral Hogs and now Channeled Apple Snails Panicle Rice Mite Steneotarsonemus spinki Smiley Rice Delphacid (Tagosodes orizicolus) = Sogata • Big problem on ratoon rice in TX in 2015; not seen since
Rice Delphacid
• Direct feeding = “hopperburn” with honeydew
Honeydew Sampling for planthoppers on ratoon rice. Oct. 2015. No. planthoppers/5 County Variety sweeps Brazoria Presidio 329 Colorado CL152 50 Colorado Presidio 521 Wharton Cheniere 409 Wharton CLXL745 59 Wharton CLXL745 290 Wharton Presidio 391 Wharton Presidio 1660 Rice Delphacid • Transmits virus (RHBV) to cause hoja blanca Rice Delphacid
• But could be problem in future, so went to CIAT last December invited by Drs. Fernando Correa and Maribel Cruz
Rice Delphacid • Hoja blanca epidemics are cyclical but are becoming more frequent and severe • RHBV detrimental to insect as well as rice • Best management = plant tolerant varieties Rice Delphacid
• We plan on sending seed from selected TX varieties for Maribel and Fernando to screen
Work by Dr Ismael Badillo-Vargas
• Texas insects not viruliferous and most closely related to those in Argentina Blackbirds Blackbirds • Pests of sprouting and heading rice • AV-1011 (active ingredient = anthraquinone); Arkion Life Sciences – Repellent – Farmers are happy with the product – Currently working on a heading formulation – Contact Ken Ballinger for more information; [email protected] or 610-506-3117 Channeled Apple Snail (Pomacaea canaliculata) • Native to South America, introduced to Asia then introduced into Texas rice fields via pet trade • In Texas, burrows into levees and causes water loss • In Louisiana, clogs up crayfish traps Channeled Apple Snail (Pomacaea canaliculata) • Recent development = Ferroxx AQ= active ingredient = iron phosphate – Registrant = W. Neudorf Germany • Poison bait that can be used in an aquatic system • For more information, contact David Moore 831-331-3847 or [email protected] Hurricane Harvey
• Hurricane Harvey in 5 days (Aug 27-31, 2017) >50 inches of rain! • Enough water to fill Lake Tahoe (22 miles x 12 miles; 1,000 ft deep)! • From extreme drought in 2011 (driest year on record for Texas) to extreme flooding in 2017!
After Effects of Hurricane Harvey • FDA concerned about “contaminates” in rice that went under water – Cadmium, lead, mercury, aflatoxin, fumonisin, “multi- mycotoxin screen”, bacteria, pesticides, etc. – About 20 % of main crop not harvested just before Harvey hit – USRPA, Ted, Vernie Hubert and I discussed with FDA – State Chemist analyzed rice for contaminates; if not “adulterated”, rice could be harvested, stored and sold; mills would not accept adulterated rice – Created lots of confusion and delayed or terminated harvest After Effects of Hurricane Harvey • Widespread spraying (with C-130s) to control mosquitoes that transmit viruses (Zika and West Nile) – Pesticide = Dibrom (naled) – TDA initially ruled that organic rice would lose organic certification, but rule was rescinded Questions?