Rice gall midge (Orseolia oryzae) The Asian Rice Gall Midge, Orseolia oryzae, is a small insect pest that feeds on rice plants and is a serious pest in rice farming. Larvae make galls, commonly called “silver shoots” or “onion shoots.” Stunted rice plants cannot produce seed heads. Let’s check out Rice Gall Midge management in paddy below.
Rice, also known as Oryza sativa, is a cereal crop and one of the most important staple foods in the world, providing over 20% of the global caloric intake. Asia grows most of this grass in flooded fields. Paddy harvests annually in warm, moist circumstances. It grows well in coastal and mountain valleys. Milling paddy grain removes the husk to make white rice.
Rice Gall Midge management in paddy
The life cycle of Rice Gall Midge
Female midges lay small batches of eggs (2-6) on the undersides of rice leaves during their lifetime, producing 100-400 eggs. The eggs are scarlet at first, but they turn chocolate brown as they hatch. Larvae crawl up the leaf sheath to the axil and penetrate the stem.
Feed for ten days to create a gall. Within the gall, pupation occurs.
Adults emerge from the gall (4-7 days later) via spines on the tip of the abdomen. Midges have a lifespan of 3-4 days and can have up to 8 generations each year. Adults spend the day hiding and are mainly nocturnal.
Occurrence of Rice Gall Midge
- Location of rice Gall Midge in the field: During the rice crop’s tillering stage, it lives in irrigated or rain-fed wetland areas. Upland and deepwater rice are also common.
- Seasonal activity: The insect remains inactive in the pupal stage during the dry season. When the tillering/buds begin to sprout after the rains, it becomes active again.
Factors favoring population increase in Rice Gall Midge in field
- Cloudy or rainy weather.
- Cultivation of high-tillering varieties.
- Intensive management practices.
- Low parasitization.
Identification of Rice Gall Midge in rice field
- Egg: At the base of the leaves, the fly lays elongated, cylindrical, shining white, red, or pinkish eggs, either singly or in clusters (2–6).
- Larva: After hatching, the maggot is 1 mm long and has a pointed front end. Forms an oval chamber surrounding the feeding site as it creeps down the sheath and into the developing bud.
- Pupa: wriggles up the tube to the tip of the silver stalk after emerging from the pupal stage. Projects halfway out of the tube.
- Adult: Fly is yellowish-brown and mosquito-like.
- The male is ash-grey in Color
- Adults feed on dewdrops.
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