Influence of growing location and cultivar on Rhyzopertha dominica (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) and Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) infestation of rough rice

Abstract Long‐grain rice cultivars Cocodrie, Wells, and XP 723 grown in three locations (Hazen, MO; Essex and Newport, AR, USA), and medium‐grain rice cultivars Bengal and XP 713 grown in two locations (Jonesboro and Lodge Corner, AR, USA), were harvested and assayed for susceptibility to Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae), the lesser grain borer, and Sitophilus oryzae (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), the rice weevil, on rice held at 27°C, 57% and 75% relative humidity (RH). Separate samples from the same harvest lots were also analyzed for the physical characteristics of brown rice yield, percentage whole kernels and kernel thickness. Progeny production and feeding damage of R. dominica were significantly different among long‐grain cultivars within two of the three locations (P < 0.05), but not for location or RH (P 0.05), while progeny production of S. oryzae was different among cultivars, location, and RH (P < 0.05). On medium‐grain rice, both cultivar and location were significant for progeny production of R. dominica, but not RH, while cultivar and RH were significant for progeny production of S. oryzae, but not location. On both rice types, feeding damage of R. dominica followed the same trends and was always strongly positively correlated with progeny production (P < 0.05), but for S. oryzae there were several instances in which progeny production was not correlated with feeding damage (P 0.05). Physical characteristics of both rice types were statistically significant (P < 0.01) but actual numerical differences were extremely small, and were generally not correlated with progeny production of either species. Results indicate that the location in which a particular rice cultivar is grown, along with its characteristics, could affect susceptibility of the rice to R. dominica and S. oryzae.