Maize Yield Response to Chemical Control of Spodoptera frugiperda at Different Plant Growth Stages in South Africa

Johnnie van den Berg, Carmen Britz and Hannalene du Plessis
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Johnnie van den Berg: Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, IPM Program, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa
Carmen Britz: Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, IPM Program, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa
Hannalene du Plessis: Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, IPM Program, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a major pest of maize. Yield losses between 30 and 70% in the Americas and between 11 and 100% in Africa have been reported. Little information exists on the effect of pest damage during different plant growth stages on yield loss. Previous studies showed that insecticide applications at weekly intervals did not always provide a yield gain comparable to only a single or two well-timed applications. In this study, we completed four field trials under high natural pest pressure. Treatments consisted of different regimes of insecticide applications that provided protection against damage during different growth stages. In one trial, the mean incidence of infested plants was 65%, and the yield benefit gained from four insecticide applications was 32.6%. The other three trials had 16 treatments which were divided into two spray sequences to protect plants against FAW damage for different lengths of time, between early vegetative stages and tasseling. Yield losses were 41.9, 26.5 and 56.8% for the three respective trials if no insecticides were applied. Yield loss of plants protected during earlier growth stages was significantly lower than that of the treatments which provided protection during later growth stages. More than three spray applications generally completed did not provide further yield gains. Plants that were protected more during early growth stages yield higher than plants protected during later growths stages.

Keywords: damage severity; threshold; injury; insecticide application; pest management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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