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Natural occurrence of fungal species on the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Punjab, Pakistan

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Abstract

The rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is one of the major insect pests of stored wheat, maize, rice and cereal-based food products worldwide. Besides direct damages to stored food, S. oryzae has the ability to act as a vector of several fungal pathogens. Here, we collected strains of S. oryzae from rice storage facilities in Punjab, Pakistan, during 2020-22 and quantified fungal species on the bodies of weevils. A total of 54 isolates consisting of 17 species belonging to 10 genera were identified and morphologically characterized from different strains of S. oryzae. Overall, Aspergillus spp. were the most frequent (52%) in all the isolates followed by Alternaria spp. (13%), Metarhizium spp. (9%), Penicillium spp. (7%), Cladosporium sp. (5%), Rhizopus sp. (4%), Verticillium sp. (4%), Trichoderma sp. (2%) and Fusarium sp. (2%). The occurrence frequency of different fungal species was as follows: Aspergillus nidulans (7%), Aspergillus fumigatus (7%), Aspergillus flavus (15%), Aspergillus parasiticus (15%), Aspergillus oryzae (7%), Alternaria alternata (9%), Alternaria tenuissima (4%), Cladosporium cladosporioides (6%), Metarhizium flavoviride (4%), Metarhizium anisopliae (6%), Mucor racemosus (2%), Penicillium expansum (4%), Penicillium citrinum (4%), Rhizopus oryzae (4%), Verticillium lecanii (4%), Trichoderma harzianum (2%), and Fusarium oxysporum (2%). The Chi-square test of association revealed non-significant association of fungal species with different localities (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the results of the present study revealed that S. oryzae could play an important role in spreading and promoting fungal contamination and subsequent production of mycotoxins in stored foodstuff.

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Author notes

  1. Tiyyabah Khan and Hafiz Azhar Ali Khan are equal contributors and should be considered as joint-first-author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Tiyyabah Khan & Waheed Anwar

  2. Institute of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Hafiz Azhar Ali Khan

  3. Department of Entomology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Muhammad Rizwan Khan & Muhammad Umer

Authors
  1. Tiyyabah Khan
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  2. Hafiz Azhar Ali Khan
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  3. Waheed Anwar
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  4. Muhammad Rizwan Khan
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  5. Muhammad Umer
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Correspondence to Hafiz Azhar Ali Khan.

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Khan, T., Khan, H., Anwar, W. et al. Natural occurrence of fungal species on the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Punjab, Pakistan. Int J Trop Insect Sci 43, 1741–1748 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-023-01078-4

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