Nondestructive VOC-Based Phenotyping Strategy for Assessing Brown Planthopper Resistance at the Adult Stage in Rice.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Entomology
• Plant Breeding

Background:

• The brown planthopper (BPH) is a significant rice pest in Asia, causing severe damage at the adult stage.
• Current resistance screening methods for rice are often destructive, labor-intensive, and focus on seedlings, potentially not reflecting adult-stage field performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a volatile-based, non-destructive method for assessing rice resistance to BPH at the adult stage.
• To identify specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with BPH resistance in rice.

Main Methods:

• Ten rice varieties were classified as highly resistant (HR), resistant (R), or susceptible (S) based on seedling bioassays and field infestation data.
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by adult rice plants were analyzed using thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS).
• Multivariate analysis and machine learning (Support Vector Machine - SVM) were employed to identify resistance-associated VOCs and build predictive models.

Main Results:

• Five specific VOCs were identified that effectively differentiate between rice resistance groups (HR, R, S).
• A Support Vector Machine (SVM) model trained on these VOCs achieved an accuracy of 0.89 in predicting resistance levels.
• Distinct VOC emission patterns were correlated with different levels of BPH resistance in adult rice plants.

Conclusions:

• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) provide a reliable indicator of rice resistance to the brown planthopper (BPH) at the adult stage.
• This non-destructive, volatile-based screening method offers a scalable and efficient tool to support rice breeding programs for enhanced pest resistance.
• The findings pave the way for improved pest management strategies in rice cultivation through advanced resistance screening.