Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the mexican rice borer (MRB),…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the mexican rice borer (MRB), eoreuma loftini, has emerged as an important pest of rice along the gulf coast (southwestern louisiana and eastern texas). Current management program for this insect is unsustainable because IT relies almost exclusively on a single insecticidal seed treatment. The sustainability of the management program for MRB would be improved by integrating foliar insecticides into the program. Interactions of rice with the MRB, like rice-stem borer interactions in general, are complicatedand prevention of yield losses from borers is a bigproblem. Integrating foliar insecticides into the management program for the MRB will require a more detailed understanding of the interaction between rice and the MRB. We propose to characterize the relationship between rice plant age and vulnerability to MRB and use this information to develop a crop model to guide decisions about scouting and treatment for the MRB. In addition, we propose to investigate yield losses from MRB at different rice panicle densities and use this information to develop cultural control practices for MRB. To accomplish these goals, multilocation greenhouse and field experiments in louisiana and texas will be conducted across three years to understand the relationships of rice ageto susceptibility to MRB. Findings will be disseminated to growers, consultants, and the scientific community to improve the productivity of rice through more effective integrated pest management of stem borers.