Winter flooding of California rice fields reduces immature populations of Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the spring

BACKGROUND In California, rice fields are flooded over the winter months (November to March) to facilitate degradation of post‐harvest rice straw and to provide temporary habitat for migratory waterfowl. Prior research showed that winter flood rice fields had fewer rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pest management science 2017-07, Vol.73 (7), p.1538-1546
Main Authors: Aghaee, Mohammad‐Amir, Godfrey, Larry D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
California
Coleoptera
Controlled conditions
Crop production
Crop Production - methods
cultural control
Degradation
Flood control
Flooding
Floods
Habitats
Insect Control - methods
integrated pest management
Larvae
Methane
Methane - analysis
Oryza - chemistry
Oryza - parasitology
Plant tissues
Populations
Rice fields
Rice straw
Seasons
Series (mathematics)
Silicon
Silicon - analysis
Soil - chemistry
Soils
Spring
Spring (season)
Straw
Waterfowl
weevil
Weevils - growth & development
Winter
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND In California, rice fields are flooded over the winter months (November to March) to facilitate degradation of post‐harvest rice straw and to provide temporary habitat for migratory waterfowl. Prior research showed that winter flood rice fields had fewer rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus), larvae and pupae during the rice production season than fields that were left unflooded in the winter. A series of experiments were conducted to provide further support for these trends under controlled conditions and to find a mechanism for this phenomenon. RESULTS Under winter flooded conditions there was a 50% reduction in populations of weevil immatures compared with the untreated control (no straw or winter flood). These same conditions corresponded to a 20% increase in the amount of silicon found in plant tissues in 2014 and a 39 to 90% decrease in methane production in the soil from 2013 to 2014, respectively. CONCLUSION Evidence from previous field research and these controlled studies supports winter flooding as an appropriate tactic for controlling L. oryzophilus populations in the spring. However, the mechanism that would explain why winter flooding adversely affects L. oryzophilus immatures remains unclear. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry
ISSN:1526-498X
1526-4998
DOI:10.1002/ps.4507