First report of leaf vein death caused by Pantoea ananatis on rice in Jiangsu Province, China

Rice ( Oryza sativa ) is one of the most important crops in China, with a cultivation history spanning around 11,000 years (Zhang et al. 2024). In recent years, China’s rice cultivation area has typically fluctuated between 440 and 450 million mu (approximately 293 to 300 million hectares), with an annual total production consistently above 210 million tons (Geng et al. 2025). In Jiangsu province, the rice production area has consistently approximated 30 million mu (20 million hectares) (Xu et al. 2018).