A climate-adapted push-pull system effectively controls fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith), in maize in East Africa
By C. Midega, Jimmy Pittchar, J. Pickett, G. Hailu, Zeyaur Khan. 2018
397 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith), an economically important pest native to tropical and subtropical America has recently invaded Africa, causing substantial damage to maize and other crops. We evaluated functionality of a companion cropping system, ‘climate-adapted push-pull’, developed for control of cereal stemborers in drier agro-ecologies, as an added tool for the management of fall armyworm. The technology comprises intercropping maize with drought-tolerant greenleaf desmodium, Desmodium intortum (Mill.) Urb., and planting Brachiaria cv Mulato II as a border crop around this intercrop. Protection to maize is provided by semiochemicals that are emitted by the intercrop that repel (push) stemborer moths while those released by the border crop attract (pull) them. 250 farmers who had adopted the technology in drier areas of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were randomly selected for the study during the long rainy season (March-August) of 2017. Each farmer had a set of two plots, a climate-adapted push–pull and a maize monocrop. Data were collected in each plot on the number of fall armyworm larvae on maize, percentage of maize plants damaged by the larvae and maize grain yields. Similarly, farmers' perceptions of the impact of the technology on the pest were assessed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Reductions of 82.7% in average number of larvae per plant and 86.7% in plant damage per plot were observed in climate-adapted push-pull compared to maize monocrop plots. Similarly, maize grain yields were significantly higher, 2.7 times, in the climate-adapted push-pull plots. Farmers rated the technology significantly superior in reducing fall armyworm infestation and plant damage rates. These results demonstrate that the technology is effective in controlling fall armyworm with concomitant maize grain yield increases, and represent the first documentation of a technology that can be immediately deployed for management of the pest in East Africa and beyond.
Subfields: Insect Science, Molecular Biology, Plant Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1e225211965c832e9d6500b6d435cb1c358508cf
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Citations in the corpus
- Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) management by smallholders. (2019, background): “The use of desmodium and Napier grass in maize systems has recently been shown to be effective in reducing FAW infestations and plant damage caused by FAW [44].”
- Tackling fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) outbreak in Africa: an analysis of farmers’ control actions (2019, positive): “However, the farming systems, and agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions (such as farm sizes, yields, and access to institutional support services) in Africa are different from that in the Americas; hence, some of these control options may not necessarily be applicable to an African context.”
- Maize–Legume Intercropping and Push–Pull for Management of Fall Armyworm, Stemborers, and Striga in Uganda (2018, background): “Although the technology has been reported effective against FAW (Midega et al., 2018), the mechanism underlying the process requires further investigations.”
- Fall armyworm in Africa: a guide for integrated pest management (2018, background): “(Source: Midega et al. 2018) Bungoma Busia Different districts in western Kenya Siaya Vihiga Migori Homabay 0 50 100 150 200 250 Push-pull Maize monocrop M ea n nu m b er o f FA W la rv ae /1 00 p la nt s Bungoma Busia Different districts in western Kenya Siaya Vihiga Migori Homabay…”