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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Crop Biology and Sustainability

Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1581572

Interactions of Insect Pests, Diseases, and Sub1 Rice Varieties Across Agro-Climatic Zones in Assam: Insights for Strengthening Resilient Rice Cultivation

Provisionally accepted
Thanga Suja  SrinivasanThanga Suja Srinivasan1,2*Panneerselvam  PeramaiyanPanneerselvam Peramaiyan1*Ainara  PeƱalverCruzAinara PeƱalverCruz3Suryakanta  KhandaiSuryakanta Khandai1Vipin  KumarVipin Kumar1Vivek  KumarVivek Kumar1Mrinal  SaikiaMrinal Saikia4Kalyan  PathakKalyan Pathak4Rupam  BorgohainRupam Borgohain4Kanwar  SinghKanwar Singh1Shabrin  Sultana AhmedShabrin Sultana Ahmed4Gayetree  GoswamiGayetree Goswami4Jutika  DasJutika Das4Virendar  KumarVirendar Kumar1Sudhanshu  SinghSudhanshu Singh1Ashok  BhattacharyyaAshok Bhattacharyya4
  • 1International Rice Research Institute (India), New Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India
  • 2World Vegetable Center South Asia, Patancheru, Telangana, India
  • 3Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
  • 4Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

This study investigates the prevalence and interaction of insect pests and diseases across agro-climatic zones of Assam that are deployed with submergence-tolerant (Sub1) rice varieties. Utilizing data collected for two years (2020 and 2022) from farmers' fields, the research provides novel insights into how host genotype and climatic zones influence insect pests and disease prevalence under real-world conditions. The results reveal significant variability in insect and disease incidence across different agro-climatic zones and among rice varieties. The Central Brahmaputra Valley (CBV) zone exhibited a higher prevalence of insect pests such as the L. acuta, S. incertulas, and C. medinalis, while the Lower Brahmaputra Valley (LBV) zone demonstrated increased disease incidence, particularly of M. oryzae and B. oryzae. Similarly, varietal responses varied across agro-climatic zones; Bahadur-Sub1 exhibited comparatively lower insect and disease incidence, whereas Bina dhan 11 showed higher L. acuta and C. medinalis incidence across zones. Principal Component Analysis underscored zone-specific associations between insect pests and diseases, emphasizing the complex interactions among host plants, agro-climatic conditions, and insect-pest population build up. Temporal variation was also observed, with differences in insect pests and disease prevalence between the two years, highlighting the impact of macro and micro-climatic factors. These findings suggest continuous monitoring and development of adaptive, zone-specific insect and disease management strategies that can minimize insect-pest adaptation and enhance the resilience and productivity of rainfed rice ecosystems in Assam.

Keywords: Host plant interaction, Rice ecosystem, Pest incidence, submergence, climatic variability

Received: 22 Feb 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Srinivasan, Peramaiyan, PeñalverCruz, Khandai, Kumar, Kumar, Saikia, Pathak, Borgohain, Singh, Ahmed, Goswami, Das, Kumar, Singh and Bhattacharyya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Thanga Suja Srinivasan, International Rice Research Institute (India), New Delhi, 110012, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India
Panneerselvam Peramaiyan, International Rice Research Institute (India), New Delhi, 110012, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India

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