Biological control of rice stink bugs using ecosystemservice in sustainable rice agriculture
2015
Inagaki, H. (Shizuoka University (Japan)) | Saiki, C. | Matsuno, K. | Ichihara, M.
We investigated the ecological management of the rice stink bug, Stenotus rubrovittatus, which immigrates into rice paddies in early spring after its abundance increases on Poaceae weeds. The bugs occurred on a few host weed species and these weeds grew in a limited number of sites in paddy fields. Therefore, managing these weed species in spring would be an effective means of controlling S. rubrovittatus. In spring, the population of wolf spiders (Lycosidae) in paddy fields where Chinese milk vetch, Astragalus sp., was cultivated was larger than in fields without vetch, and the number of wolf spiders in fields containing Chinese milk vetch was consistently higher during the rice-growing period. We also observed that crickets (Gryllidae) feed on the seeds of Poaceae, which are the host plants of S. rubrovittatus. These results suggest that crickets may indirectly help to control the S. rubrovittatus population. Crickets were more abundant on paddy ridges where cover plants were cultivated than on ridges without cover plants. Based on these results, we suggest that ecological management that enhances the ecosystem services of rice paddies would be effective for regulating S. rubrovittatus populations.
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