Abstract
Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith, 1797) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), also known as fall armyworm (FAW) is a polyphagous pest which can cause significant losses and is considered a global threat to different crops and a risk to food security. Currently, in maize, the pest is predominantly controlled by pesticides or transgenic events. However, the use of biological control agents is considered the most sustainable and preferred method of control, providing high effectiveness. Among the various natural enemies reported for FAW, the egg parasitoid Telenomus remus has gained most interest, and has been mass released against FAW in the Americas for many years. In addition to FAW, other armyworms of the genus Spodoptera often cause high crop damage and may be controlled using T. remus. Among other important aspects, this paper presents a review on T. remus mass rearing techniques, estimated costs of mass production, and release strategies. Due to the recent invasion of FAW in Africa, Asia, and Australia T. remus provides good opportunities for the establishment of an augmentative biological control program, reinforcing sustainable production of major crops such as maize in affected countries.
Highlights
The genus Spodoptera Guenée (1852) comprises numerous lepidopteran moths, such as Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith, 1797), Spodoptera eridania (Stoll, 1782) and Spodoptera cosmioides (Walker, 1858) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) which are known for their economic importance as pests of several crops worldwide (Brown and Dewhurst 1975; Panizzi et al 2012; Bortolotto et al 2015)
Egg parasitoids are one of the most important groups of biological control agents used in augmentative biological control due to their action on early pest stages before any damage occurs to the crop (Parra and Coelho Jr 2019)
It is considered that the success for the high production and adoption of T. remus in Venezuela against fall armyworm (FAW) in maize during more than 10 years (1989 to 1999) was due to the strong linkages between biological control producers and farmers associations and to the low costs of T. remus and most importantly, due to the growers savings of 19.3 to 36.3 USD/ ha when the egg parasitoid was used as part of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) package (Ferrer 2001)
Summary
The genus Spodoptera Guenée (1852) comprises numerous lepidopteran moths, such as Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith, 1797), Spodoptera eridania (Stoll, 1782) and Spodoptera cosmioides (Walker, 1858) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) which are known for their economic importance as pests of several crops worldwide (Brown and Dewhurst 1975; Panizzi et al 2012; Bortolotto et al 2015). It is considered that the success for the high production and adoption of T. remus in Venezuela against FAW in maize during more than 10 years (1989 to 1999) was due to the strong linkages between biological control producers and farmers associations (technology transfer services) and to the low costs of T. remus (which varied from 7.5 to 17.5 US$/ha per release) and most importantly, due to the growers savings of 19.3 to 36.3 USD/ ha when the egg parasitoid was used as part of the IPM package (Ferrer 2001).
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