TITLE:
Influence of Agro Ecology on Rice Varietal Resistance to Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Sitotroga cerealella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in Benin
AUTHORS:
Carline Santos, Clement Agbangla, Daniel Chougourou, Antoine Abel Missihoun, Corneille Ahanhanzo
KEYWORDS:
Rice, Agro Ecology, Storage Pests, Resistance, Habitat Management
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.6 No.18,
November
16,
2015
ABSTRACT: The rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and the Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Oliv.),
are serious pests of stored rice in Africa. This study aims to evaluate the influence of growing environments
to rice resistance to these pests. Thus, eleven rice varieties including 6 upland NERICA,
2 Oryza glaberrima and 3 O. sativa were grown at four agro ecological zones of Benin. After harvest,
samples of 1500 grains of each genotype were infested with 20 adults of S. oryzae (10 males
and 10 females) and 1500 additional ones were infested with 50 eggs of S. cerealella. Results
showed significant effect of agro ecological zones on pest incidence and on varietal resistance as
well. O. glaberrima varieties (TOG 5681 and CG 14) were the most resistant in each location whereas
the resistance of NERICA and Sativa varieties varied from tolerant to susceptible according to
the growing ecology. This result highlights the impact of growing environment on rice resistance
status and will provide the best advice to farmers on how to choose best genetic material according
to cropping ecology.