Rice Insect Pests and Their Management

"For anyone who wants information on the insect pests of rice, this book provides an enormous amount of information about the root and stem feeders, stem borers, gall midges, leafhoppers, planthoppers, foliage feeders and panicle feeders, together with colour illustrations and line drawings, supported by an extensive list of references to each chapter. For each insect, information is given on their distribution, host plants, their biology/ecology and plant damage they cause." Outlooks on Pest Management The rice plant is an ideal host for many insect species. All of the plant parts are vulnerable to insect-feeding from the time of sowing till harvest. There are over 800 insect species damaging rice in one way or another, although the majority of them do very little damage. In tropical Asia only about 20 species are of major importance. In Africa, 15 species of insects are considered major rice pests and in the Americas about 20 species are considered major pests. To develop effective pest management strategies, it is essential to properly identify and understand the biology and ecology of insect pests and the arthropods that help regulate their populations. This book effectively utilizes the unique knowledge and expertise of leading rice entomologists from Africa, Asia and the Americas to provide the first global coverage of rice insect pests. The discussion of each pest includes geographical distribution, plant hosts other than rice, description and biology, plant damage and ecology.