Phenology overshadows seed treatment and cultivar effects on fall armyworm gut microbiome following short-term feeding on rice.

ABSTRACT: Plants mediate host susceptibility or resistance to infesting insects through various documented ways, and possibly via disrupting insect gut microbiota, an area that is underexplored in rice. The fall armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) is a highly invasive herbivore that infests ∼350 host plant species, including rice (Oryza sativa L.). Exploring the impacts of chemical seed treatments on rice against FAW on the composition and attendant detoxification functionalities of the gut microbiota, as well as the subsequent effect on larval development, could inform the development of more effective management strategies. To test this, we characterized the gut microbiota of FAW 4 th instar larvae exposed to rice cultivars with and without chemical seed treatment (Cru

SUBMITTER: Balakrishnan D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12829461 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature