Management of Fall Army Worm <i>Spodoptera Frugiperda</i> (J E Smith) in South Asia-Current Status and Future Strategies

Abstract

Fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smtih) is a native of the neotropics and it has invaded Nigeria region of Africa in 2016 and reached India in May 2018. Since then it has spread to most of the South and Southeast Asian countries, Australia and recently reached New Zealand and some South Pacific islands. Even though FAW has many hosts in its native region, the population that reached Africa and spread to Asia and Oceania prefers maize the most. In its biology, the capability of adults to fly more than 100 km in a night, females laying eggs in clusters of 100 or more to a maximum of 2,000 eggs in five days of their lifetime, later instar larvae becoming cannibalistic, pupating in soil, not diapausing and inability to survive at temperatures below 10oC, offers a unique opportunity to devise an effective management strategy. The IPM package for maize incorporating management of FAW involve: seed treatment with a systemic insecticide to protect young plants up to three weeks after planting; release of egg parasitoids Trichogramma pretiosum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) and Telenomus remus (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) immediately after finding FAW moths caught in the pheromone traps in the field; and release of larval parasitoids Bracon (Habrobracon) hebetor, and Bracon (Habrobracon) brevicornis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and treating with bio- and botanical pesticides, when whorl damage in observed.