 A Noctuid Moth Spodoptera Litura Pertaining to Global Distribution, Crop Losses, Nutritional Needs, Preferred Host Interactive Effects and Anti-Herbivore Defences EvolveA. A. Hamzah
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science, 2025, vol. 10, issue 5, 20-35 Abstract: Spodoptera litura is a sporadically serious insect pest, being an extremely polyphagous and wide-ranging species. To date, this insect pest is well justified in terms of its polyphagousity on many economically important crops, thus necessitating the need to find effective action strategies to combat the threats of infestations and spreads, as delays can lead to considerable economic losses. Developing effective management strategies can be included to find potent insecticides that are safer for the user and consumer, besides control problem due to the problem of resistance development to several synthetic insecticides. The wider the range of potential candidates, the higher the likelihood of finding top performers as an alternative method to control S. litura infestations, especially on agricultural lands and reduce chemical pesticide over-reliance. This review addresses a brief discussion about a polyphagous lepidopteran, S. litura recovering the global extent of invasion, the damage it causes and host plant preferences. In the following objective is to explore feeding behaviours and the nutritional composition of a preferred host plant that required for S. litura to grow and develop. This review focus also related to identify and describe the role of plant-derived secondary metabolites that could exert toxic effects to S. litura and possibly decipher a serious polyphagous herbivore its uniquely different and crucial strategy types evolved to deal with anti-herbivore defence of host plants. In conducting the literature survey or finding published information for this review, various scientific resources were relied on such as PudMed, ScienceDirect, ResearchGate and Google Scholar. The keywords used for collecting literature were global distribution, economic losses, plant secondary metabolites and defence mechanisms related to S. litura. The chronological period in which the papers were published was not considered during the literature survey and review writing process because the primary focus was on selecting noteworthy works for the topics covered. The occurrence and economic importance of this insect vary from region to region, but commonly found in the Asia-Pacific region and has caused some specific problematic pest population reports in Europe and the United States (US). Different populations of S. litura may demonstrate differences in feeding preference and width of the host range to complete their development but are considered significant for a better chance to survive with wild plants, weeds, shade trees, ornamental, agricultural and horticultural crops as hosts. Looking to the mode of damage, this insect pest emergence is observed to be associated with food availability and climatic conditions during its larval stages and consumption rate varies depending on the instar. Severe damages sometimes can extend to the whole plant dies in field conditions. It is noted that the nutritional difference of the plant hosts significantly induce divergence to the growth performance, reproduction, feeding behaviour, as well as adult oviposition. In association with continuous usage of synthetic pesticides contributing in adverse effects such as pollution, health hazards and loss of biodiversity, while adoption of botanical pesticides leads to a healthy environment and sustainable agriculture. Based on this, the extensive range of chemical variations or notably amazing chemical diversity found in plants offers a wide selection of chemicals that have potential uses as botanical insecticides. Several plant families have been reported to contain plants with bioactive compounds or secondary metabolites effective against S. litura, including Asteraceae, Fabaceace, Meliaceae and others which were rich in flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids. As opposed to many secondary metabolites found in plants against herbivores, the insect pest used different mechanisms to resist these toxins or induce defence responses, such as releasing secretory proteins from salivary glands, detoxifying enzyme activities and highly sensitive olfactory sensory systems. Significantly, this review highlights the recent scenarios that explore the global habitats for S. litura, global agricultural impacts due to the damage it causes to various crops, food utilisation and the effects of host plant nutrients on the growth and development of S. litura, the effectiveness of botanical insecticides derived from plant extracts containing a wide variety of defensive secondary metabolites in response to the insect herbivory; and lastly, strategies used by the insect pest that have been utilised to overcome its host plants’ diverse chemical defences. Date: 2025 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bjf:journl:v:10:y:2025:i:5:p:20-35 Access Statistics for this article International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science is currently edited by Dr. Renu Malsaria More articles in International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science from International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) |
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