grasshoppers. The fall army worm, a species of Lepidoptera, also targets and causes damage to rice crops. Rice weevils attack stored produce. Nematodes Several nematode species infect rice crops, causing diseases such as Ufra (Ditylenchus dipsaci), White tip disease (Aphelenchoide bessei), and root knot disease (Meloidogyne graminicola). Some nematode species such as Pratylenchus spp. are most dangerous in upland rice of all parts of the world. Rice root nematode (Hirschmanniella oryzae) is a migratory endoparasite which on higher inoculum levels will lead to complete destruction of a rice crop. Beyond being obligate parasites, they also decrease the vigor of plants and increase the plants' susceptibility to other pests and diseases. Other pests These include the apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata), panicle rice mite, rats, and the weed Echinochloa crusgali. Diseases Rice blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe grisea (syn. M. oryzae, Pyricularia oryzae), is the most significant disease affecting rice cultivation. It and bacterial leaf streak (caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae) are perennially the two worst rice diseases worldwide, and such is their importance and the importance of rice that they are both among the worst 10 diseases of all plants. Fukuoka et al., 2009 clones one of the few quantitative disease loci for quantitative disease resistance ever cloned in plants, one for blast resistance in this crop. The plant responds to the blast pathogen by releasing jasmonic acid, which then cascades into the activation of further downstream metabolic pathways which produce the defense response. This accumulates as methyl-jasmonic acid. The pathogen responds by synthesizing an oxidizing enzyme which prevents this accumlation and its resulting alarm signal. was discovered by Fujisaki et al., 2017. It is a nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptor (NB-LRR, NLR), an immunoreceptor. It includes an NOI domain (NO-Induced) which binds rice's own protein. This protein is a target of the M. oryzae effector and so this allows the NLR to monitor for Mos attack against that target. Other major fungal and bacterial rice diseases include sheath blight (caused by Rhizoctonia solani), false smut (Ustilaginoidea virens), bacterial panicle blight (Burkholderia glumae), sheath rot (Sarocladium oryzae), and bakanae (Fusarium fujikuroi). Viral diseases exist, such as rice ragged stunt (vector: BPH), and tungro (vector: Nephotettix spp). Many viral diseases, especially those vectored by planthoppers and leafhoppers, are major causes of losses across the world. There is also an ascomycete fungus, Cochliobolus miyabeanus, that causes brown spot disease in rice. Integrated