Abstract

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) is a key dryland cereal in northern China yet multi-regional information on its disease–pest complexes remains limited. Using a 2025 field-monitoring dataset from 84 sites in 11 provincial-level regions, this study assessed the occurrence spectrum, regional variation, relative pressure, provincial spatial patterns, complex types, and statistical co-occurrence associations of major diseases and insect pests observed during a single grain-filling-stage survey. Field records were standardized numerically, and richness metrics, relative pressure indices, complex-type classification, provincial mapping, and binary correlation analysis were applied. Foxtail millet blast, millet downy mildew, and foxtail millet sheath blight were the dominant field-diagnosed disease categories, with occurrence rates of 97.18%, 89.74%, and 73.02%, respectively. Stink bug-related records represented by the hyaline grass bug, double-spotted long-tarsed leaf beetle records, armyworm records, foxtail millet leaf beetle records, and Asian corn borer records were the most common insect pest variables. Northeast China showed higher disease richness and total disease–pest richness, while Northeast China and the North China–Huang-Huai region had higher total disease–pest pressure. Pest-dominated sites accounted for 47.62% of all sites. Co-occurrence analysis identified strong positive statistical associations, particularly between millet downy mildew and stink bug-related records. These results provide a grain-filling-stage monitoring baseline for foxtail millet disease–pest complexes and support integrated monitoring, regional surveillance, and exploratory classification-based interpretation. The findings should be interpreted as cross-sectional field-monitoring results rather than evidence of seasonal dynamics, causal disease–pest interactions, or validated control thresholds.

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