Fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda : An invasive pest of Maize Omprakash Navik* and Jagadeesh Patil

Abstract

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) is an invasive pest of maize and first time reported in July 2018 from Karnataka, India. Presently, this pest has made havoc on maize crop in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. This pest is an American origin and polyphagous in nature feeds on more than 80 plant species. It prefers to feed on maize crop, however in the absence of maize it feeds on sugarcane, sorghum, rice, cabbage, soybean, onion, tomato, potato and cotton. Life cycle of this pest completes within 32 to 46 days on maize under the favorable conditions. First two instars of S. frugiperda feed on the leaves and later instars moves inside the leaf whorl and starts feeding by leaving frass around the damaged area. For the management of this pest, an adaptation of integrated pest management approach is needed. Integrating, bioagents like egg parasistoids, Trichogramma pretiosum and Telenomus sp. and for larval stages by entompathogenic fungi Metarhizium anisopliae, Nomuraea rileyi (=Metarhizium rileyi, bacteria, (Bt) and entomopathogenic nematode, Heterorhabditis indica are useful options. However, need based application of insecticides like emamectin benzoate can be used for successful management of this pest.