Efficacy of a Pheromone Trap with Insecticide-treated Long-lasting Screen Against Fall Armyworm (faw), Spodoptera Frugiperda (lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract

Food Security is an issue that will impact everyone by 2050 and it is projected there will be a global crisis unless action is taken. Currently the fall army worm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is a new pest to the Sub-Saharan region and the outbreaks over the past two years have been devastating. A promising novel technology is the combination of a pheromone lure from ChemTica Internacional S.A. and yellow long-lasting insecticide treated ZeroFly Screen from Vestergaard SA. To test this technology, we compared the attraction and mortality of traps made of old soda bottles in five different sites of Zambia with maize and wheat crops. Besides the attraction of the pheromone-baited traps we also compared the effect of the colour of the insecticidal net, between black and yellow screens. Our results showed that in all sites there were significant differences in trap catches between lure baited and non-baited traps. A total of 1129 FAW adults were trapped, of which 51.20% were from baited traps with the yellow long-lasting insecticide treated screen, 41.45% from traps baited and the black long-lasting insecticide treated screen and 7.35% from trap without lure or the insecticide treated screen. The trap with yellow insecticide treated screen was able to trap 110 more FAW than the black treated screen and the control. Significant differences were also observed in number of moths caught from each location and district. The highest catches were recorded from wheat crops at Zambia National Service (ZNS) Farm in Chongwe and Chaloshi farm in Chisamba districts, respectively, whilst the lowest catch was recorded in a maize field at Tugama farm in Chilanga district. It was also noticed that the pheromone used is specific to FAW as no other insects were recorded in all the sites. Therefore, the pheromone lure from ChemTica and the yellow long lasting insecticide treated screen from Vestergaard SA can be used in the integrated pest management of FAW in Zambia in both, maize and wheat, these complimentary methods include but are not limited to; the use of Biopesticides – fungal, viral or bacteria based products such as Metarhizium anisopliae or bacteria-based Bacillus thuringiensis that have proven effective against fall armyworm and have been used to control it in the US and Brazil.