PEST MANAGEMENT: DISEASES Survey of Mites and Bacteria Associated with Arkansas Rice and the Potential Link Between the Spread and Pathogenicity of Bacteria and Mite Activity

Bacterial panicle blight (BPB) caused by Burkholderia glumae has become the most important disease of ‘Bengal’ rice in Arkansas. Many arthropods with the capability to vector bacteria are commonly found in rice fields; however, no link has been made to any arthropod vectors of BPB. This study sampled rice fields for the presence of BPB and any small arthropods typically implicated in disease vectoring such as mites and sucking insects. Selective agar was used to test for the presence of BPB in rice samples and arthropods were collected and identified from the same samples. Out of 140 rice samples, 67 tested positive for BPB; however, only 12 of the rice samples contained mite specimens. Other than rice stinkbug, no other sucking insect was collected from the 140 rice samples. This was a very unexpected result, which may have been due to numerous factors occurring in 2010.