Brown Planthopper
Nilaparvata lugens
Sap-Sucking Insects Severe Risk 3-5 mm
📖 Description
The Brown Planthopper (BPH) is the most destructive pest of rice in South and Southeast Asia, causing annual yield losses exceeding $300 million in India alone. Both nymphs and adults suck phloem sap from the lower stem, weakening the plant and injecting toxic saliva that causes hopperburn. BPH also transmits grassy stunt and ragged stunt virus diseases. Outbreaks are strongly linked to intensive rice cultivation, excessive nitrogen fertilization, and the misuse of broad-spectrum insecticides that kill natural enemies.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Sudden drying of tillers called 'hopperburn' in circular patches, yellowing and browning of leaves, sooty mold on honeydew, stunted growth, reduced panicle formation, complete crop loss in severe infestation
🩹 Treatment
- Drain field water for 3-4 days to suppress nymphs, apply neem oil 5ml/L as foliar spray, use recommended insecticides when threshold exceeds 5-10 insects per hill, avoid excessive nitrogen fertilizer
🌿 Organic treatments
- Drain field water for 3-4 days, apply neem oil 5ml/L, release green mirid bug (Cyrtorhinus lividipennis), apply Metarhizium anisopliae biopesticide, light traps to catch macropterous adults
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.25 ml/L, Buprofezin 25 SC @ 2 ml/L, Pymetrozine 50 WG @ 0.5 g/L, Dinotefuran 20 SG @ 1 g/L (rotate to avoid resistance)
🛡️ Prevention
- Plant resistant rice varieties (IR64, Pusa 44, Samba Mahsuri), avoid excessive nitrogen, maintain proper spacing, synchronous planting, remove volunteer rice and ratoon crops, conserve natural enemies by avoiding broad-spectrum insecticides
🪴 Affected plants
- Rice, Wild Rice, Leersia Grass, Other Poaceae
🦋 Natural predators
- Green Mirid Bug, Spiders, Water Bugs, Ladybird Beetles, Dryinid Wasps, Pipunculid Flies
🌱 Host plants
- Oryza sativa, Oryza rufipogon, Leersia hexandra
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 200-700 eggs in groups along the leaf sheath and midrib.
- Eggs hatch in 6-9 days.
- Nymphs pass through 5 instars in 13-18 days.
- Adults live 18-30 days, with females reproducing for 10-20 days.
- Multiple overlapping generations occur continuously in tropical conditions, with 6-8 generations per year in irrigated rice.
📅 Season
- Kharif (Jul-Oct) and Rabi (Jan-Apr) rice seasons, peak during tillering to panicle initiation
🔎 Appearance
- Small brownish, wedge-shaped insects with clear wings folded tent-like over the body.
- Adults exist in two forms: short-winged (brachypterous, stay on plants) and long-winged (macropterous, migrate).
- Nymphs are creamy-white to brown with a creamy dorsal stripe.
💥 Damage level
- Severe
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Rapid
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- South Asia
- East Asia
- Southeast Asia
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