Wolbachia is maternally inherited intracellular bacteria (Rickettsiaceae) that infect a wide range of arthropods and nematodes and that are playing a great roles at their development, reproduction and pathogenic, associated with various reproductive abnormalities in their hosts. In this study, we investigated the effects of removal of Wolbachia infection on immature and mature brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) developmental time, longevity, and fecundity in our institute. The Wolbachia-free strain was obtained using 10 mg/mL rifampicin treatment on the non-treated strain (control) for 4 weeks, and gene product detected did not find Wolbachia in this strain. Throughout this research we found that removing symbiotic Wolbachia bacteria will reduce the Fitness of BPH. Removing Wolbachia from male or female BPH have longer longevity times, shorter survivorship of immature stages, and shorter developmental time, resulting in much bigger rm values. The results of this study proved Wolbachia were beneficial on fecundity, fertility and reproduction of BPH.

Keywords: Brown planthopper, Wolbachia, developmental times, fecundity