A Novel Way of Addressing Eminent Food Insecurity Challenges Caused by American Fall Army Worms Spodoptera Frugiperda)

Abstract

American Fall Army Worms Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) has been a great nuisance to farmers in West, South, East Africa and Asia imparting significant losses ranging from 80 to 100% to maize crops while in the fields. This paper presents and describes the results of an investigative study carried out to examine the efficacy of a simple detergent water mixture as an effective remedy for controlling American Fall Army Worms. This should be good news and great relief to governments and farmers at large with regards to time and financial resources that have been used to control these worms. The experiments were carried out at a laboratory in Kilimanjaro street, Kihonda ward, Morogoro region, Tanzania. Various concentrations of 0.1 graduation (0.1% - 1.5%) of detergents (Trade names: KLEESOFT, OMO, FOMA, ARIEL and FAMILY) water mixtures were prepared. These were applied to the worms to detect; which concentration was effective in killing them in the shortest time possible. Five worms were subjected to each concentration of detergent:water mixture and the time was recorded to detect the duration it took to kill the worms. Simple detergent:water mixtures have shown to be very effective in controlling the American Fall Army Worms. For each concentration prepared from 0.1% to 1.5% we observed a 100% mortality of the worms, with only difference being the time to kill. On average at 0.1%, the worms were killed in 689 seconds (≈ 12 minutes), while at 1.5%, the worms were killed in 32 seconds (≈ 0.5 minutes). The duration decreased with level of concentration of the detergent. As the detergent concentration increased less and less time was required to kill the worms completely. From the lowest concentration 0.1% to the highest 1.5%, there was a 100% mortality of the worms, with the only difference being time to kill. A 0.5% detergent:water mixture has been shown to be very effective in killing the fall army worms within 60 seconds as the difference in time to kill was negligible after this concentration. The findings of this study call for urgent need to introduce this remedy to all farmers in order to protect maize and other crops in the fields during production season and to reduce financial burden incurred by farmers in purchasing costly pesticides. Further research is needed to explore the specific content of the detergents that causes abrupt death and the mechanism in which the worms are killed