For the first time, scientists have documented rice plants actively trapping and killing fall armyworm caterpillars. Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station found that roughly half of young caterpillars on rice plants become ensnared by microscopic hairs, or trichomes, on an open rice spikelet—where the grain develops—and die when the spikelet later closes. The researchers hypothesize the insects are drawn to the spikelet by floral scents released from the floret. Published in the journal Ecological Processes, the study opens the door to new research on alternative pest‑control strategies against fall armyworm, an insect that has developed resistance to many chemical controls.
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By John Lovett
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Rice plants and Venus flytraps share something in common that was not scientifically documented until recently.
Using a faint smell to lure caterpillars into a trap, rice plants kill early-stage fall armyworm larvae by trapping them in a spikelet, the part at the end of a rice panicle where individual grains develop.
