The effectiveness of commercial pheromone lures for monitoring fall armyworm (FAW) in Malaysia

Zulaikha, M.¹*, Siew Bee, T.², Wan Muhammad Azrul, W. A.¹ and Farah Huda, S. S.¹,

Abstract
The fall armyworm (FAW) is an invasive species that has caused a significant loss of commercial crops worldwide. In Malaysia, fall armyworm was reported in September 2019 with 100% incidence on maize plantations in Changlun, Kedah. Following the reports, the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Department of Agriculture Malaysia (DOA), and Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) conducted joint research in developing an Integrated Pest management (IPM) program for managing FAW in Malaysia. One of the components of this program was to identify potential commercial pheromone lures for FAW. Three different pheromone formulations imported from India, the USA, and Costa Rica were evaluated in the laboratory olfactometer assay and the field. The lure from the USA attracts more males compared to the lure from Costa Rica in the choice assay. The field study indicated that the lure from Costa Rica attracted significantly more males, followed by USA and India. Therefore, pheromone lures manufactured in Costa Rica have the potential to be implemented in the IPM program for FAW in Malaysia.

Keywords: Spodoptera frugiperda, IPM, sex pheromone, monitoring, grain corn

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