[Comparing study on oviposition preference and host-selecting behavior of larvae of rice and water-oat population or rice stem borer, Chilo suppressulis].
The oviposition preference of female of rice and water-oat population of rice stem borer was studied in the oviposition cage (1 m x 1 m x 0.8 m) in laboratory. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the numbers and distributions of eggs laid by the two populations, but each population preferred to lay its non-hatching ovum on the non-host plant. The host-selection behavior of larvae of two host populations was also investigated by Y-tube olfactory. When the leaf or leaf shell of rice and water-oat was provided to larvae of rice population in choice test, 4th and 6th instar larvae of rice population preferred rice leaf to water-oat leaf and 2nd and 4th instar larvae preferred leaf shell of rice to leaf shell of water-oat. When leaves of rice and water-oat were provided to larvae of water-oat population in choice test, except for 1st instar, each stadium of larvae preferred water-oat leaf to rice leaf, and when leaf shells of rice and water-oat were provided, all stadiums of larvae preferred leaf shell of water-oat to leaf shell of rice. These results demonstrated that intraspecies differentiation between the two populations, and the specialization of water-oat population of rice stem borer to host was higher than that of rice population.