Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most consumed cereal crops across the globe (Anis et al. 2019; Gaballah et al. 2021), mostly cultivated in Asian and some African countries, but the production has been hindered by several diseases and insect pests (Seck et al. 2012; Zhang et al. 2019; Jena and Kim 2020; Rahman et al. 2016; Ahmed et al. 2021). The striped stem borer (SSB) Chilo suppressalis Walker, and the three rice planthopper species, namely white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera Horváth, brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens Stål, and small brown planthopper (SBPH) Laodelphax striatellus Fallén, are considered as destructive rice pests in rice-growing areas (Lou et al. 2013; Du et al. 2015; Mu et al. 2016; Lu et al. 2017b).