Origins of Susceptibility to Insect Herbivores in High-Yielding Hybrid and Inbred Rice Genotypes

Simple Summary Hybrid rice is grown by millions of Asian farmers and has normally higher yields compared to inbred varieties. However, hybrid rice has been associated with high damage from herbivores. This susceptibility could be due to the physiology of the hybrid plant type or due to a limited availability of male sterile parents that are necessary for hybrid seed production. We examined how plant type and breeding affect the relative susceptibilities of hybrid and inbred rice by exposing 32 rice genotypes to the brown planthopper, whitebacked planthopper, and yellow stemborer in controlled environments and field plots. We compared insect fitness on the plants and related this to the type and genetic similarity of genotypes. Despite their diverse origins (China, Colombia, India, and the Philippines), the hybrids and inbreds formed two distinct genetic groups, thereby confounding plant type and phylogeny. Hybrids were generally more susceptible to stemborers but not to planthoppers. Relative herbivore fitness was strongly influenced by plant origin (i.e., breeding program) with one group of related genotypes being relatively susceptible to all three herbivores. Our results indicate that hybrids are not inherently more susceptible than inbreds to insect herbivores and that careful screening with the elimination of the most susceptible genotypes is necessary to reduce herbivore damage to hybrid and inbred rice in Asia.Abstract Several studies have reported higher damage from insect herbivores to hybrid compared to inbred (pure line) rice. We used a collection of 20 hybrid and 12 inbred genotypes from diverse origins to test the hypotheses that hybrid rice susceptibility is due to (a) the hybrid plant type and/or (b) rice phylogeny. We challenged the genotypes with Nilaparvata lugans (BPH), Sogatella furcifera (WBPH) and Scirpophaga incertulas (YSB) in greenhouse and screenhouse bioassays and monitored herbivores in field plots. We used single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers to assess genetic similarities between the genotypes and found that the hybrids and inbreds formed two distinct clusters regardless of origin. In the screenhouse, hybrids were more susceptible than inbreds to YSB; however, resistant hybrids and susceptible inbreds were also apparent from both the screenhouse and field plots. Plant biomass was the best predictor of susceptibility to YSB. Plant origin had a greater effect than plant type on susceptibility to BPH and WBPH. WBPH was the most abundant planthopper in the field plots where numbers were highly correlated with planthopper fitness in the greenhouse bioassays. Our results provide evidence that high-yielding hybrids that are relatively resistant to herbivores can be achieved through careful breeding. The avoidance of susceptible genotypes during breeding should remain a key element of integrated rice pest management.