Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: hemp, tobacco

• Agronomic: corn, cotton, grass (misc. annual), grass (misc. perennial), grass (turfgrass, sod), oats, rice, sorghum (milo), sorghum (sweet), sorghum sudangrass, soybeans, wheat

• Vegetables: sweet corn

Target Pests

• Target Pests: lepidoptera, other

Practices

• Pest Management: behavioral control, decision support system, economic threshold, forecasting, mating disruption, pesticide application timing, traps

In this SIPMC Enhancement Seed Grant we propose a multi-state collaborative project to innovate early research and tools and method development for IPM implementation. Our overall goal is to develop highly effective monitoring and pest suppression tools for management of Spodoptera frugiperda, the Fall Armyworm (FAW). We propose to develop innovative, ecologically based, sustainable IPM technologies for a pest problem that limits production efficiency in many U.S. and global plant production systems, and is recognized by many user communities in the Southeast, nationally and globally as a major priority.

Problem:  FAW feeds on more than 350 plant species, making it one of the most important global pests of crop plants. S. frugiperda overwinters in southern Texas and Florida, but pupae can survive along the Gulf coast in mild winters. It is an annual migrant, dispersing throughout the U.S. and into southern Canada every summer. FAW damages many different crops but its largest impact is on different types of corn. FAW and the corn earworm are the two most important lepidopteran pests of corn in the southeast. In bermudagrass the whole leaf blade can be consumed, with economic damage occurring at low FAW density.

The implementation of coordinated IPM programs is highly dependent on effective species-specific detection, monitoring, and pest control, and pheromones are highly species-specific, reliably predict when adults fly, and can be used to suppress populations through ‘mating disruption’. Although effective in comparison to light traps and floral scents, it is apparent that sex pheromone lures for FAW can be improved to attract more FAW and fewer non-target insects that look like the FAW and therefore confuse farmers. Thus, the development and implementation of coordinated IPM programs is highly dependent on effective species-specific detection, monitoring, surveillance and pest control at the local, State, Regional, country, and continental levels, and effective pheromone traps are needed as critical cornerstones of IPM programs.

Approach:  The long-range approach of this stakeholder-focused project will take two independent strategies to maximize outcomes while minimizing risk. The first is proposed here and will incorporate a newly discovered pheromone component into existing lures, dramatically increasing their effectiveness. The second, which will involve follow-up research, will re-examine the female pheromone and identify, quantify and optimize a new pheromone blend from multiple populations of FAW that will result in better efficacy and species-specificity. Specifically, we will conduct dose-response studies of the novel compound in combination with commercial lures in sweet corn in NC and FL using a complete randomized block design. Then, using our most effective blend ratio and dose, we test it in multiple populations of FAW in NC and FL, representing the two host-associated FAW strains, the corn-strain and a rice-strain.

Anticipated impacts:  Success of this project will be achieved with the development of at least one new FAW pheromone formulation that can significantly outperform commercial lures by increasing FAW trap catch while avoiding non-target species. Expected results are a new pheromone formulation that increases FAW captures and avoids by-catch of non-target species in various crops. Long-range impacts on stakeholders will include greater sensitivity to moth invasion, better timing of various pest management procedures (e.g., insecticide applications, biocontrol, cultural practices), and overall greater food security. Long-term research, beyond this seed grant, will fully characterize the chemical structures of other new pheromone components, understand the effects of all new pheromones and their ratios, doses and release rates on the behavior of FAW moths, and leverage the efficacy of the pheromone in applications beyond trapping, such as mating disruption.