Rice Bug
Rice Bug Scientific name: Leptocorisa oratorius
Common names: Atangya (Tagalog); dangaw (Ilocano)
Young nymphs are green while adults are greenish brown. When the temperature is high, and the insects are not feeding, they camouflage themselves on the plant by taking up a particular posture.
Adults longevity is 30-50 days, although reports of 110-115 days when reared individually. Mating starts 7-14 days after becoming adult. Pre-oviposition period is within 3-4 days. Eggs hatch in 5-8 days
A female Rice Bug lays 200-300 eggs in batches of 10-20 eggs. Females rest on grassy areas and the base of the plant during sunlight.
Where to find Rice Bug
- In all environments but are more prevalent in rainfed wetland or upland rice
- Susceptible growth stages are from flowering to milky stage.
Damage
Adults and nymphs appear in the young crop with the early rains. They suck sap from the developing grains at the milky stage.All soft milky grains are susceptible to attack. Panicles in heavily infested fields remain erect. Insect attack results in discolored or shriveled grains; off-smell of raw and cooked rice, and off-flavor of straws, which is unattractive to cattle. Prior to grain formation, the bugs feed on succulent shoots and leaves.Nymphs cause more damage than adults.
Management options of Rice Bug
Cultural
- Eliminate grassy weeds from rice fields, levees, and surrounding areas by either cutting or burning to reduce habitats for egglaying.
- Avoid staggered planting of fields in the area to break continuous food source.
- Smoking the field by burning straw windward, and passing baskets or bags coated on the inside with sticky material are promising in repelling/capturing them.
- Netting and handpicking bugs reduce their numbers.
- Put attractants such as arasan or anything with bad odor like dead snails or rats. The bugs that are gathered around the attractants can be burned or sprayed with chemicals to reduce their numbers.
- Awned varieties are resistant
- Varieties with panicles enclosed in the leaf sheath for longer time offer some mechanical resistance to feeding.
Biological
- Small wasps and long horned grasshoppers kill eggs.
- Fungal pathogens infect nymphs and adults.
- Spiders, crickets, lady beetles, and longhorned grasshoppers feed on nymphs and adults.
