Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T3-10R-1220
Integrated Pest Management Strategies for Fall Army Worm in Southern
Telangana
A. Ramakrishna Babu, Kasthuri Rajamani, P. Archana and M. Goverdan
Regional Agricultural Research Station, Palem-509217, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State
Agricultural University, Telangana, India
A recent invasive pest from African countries, the Fall Army Worm (FAW), Spodoptera
frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) has become a major pest in maize crop,
cultivated across the globe. FAW is a polyphagous species that occurs on over 80 different host
plants with maize as the primary host, and its incidence was reported on maize from Telangana
State during the year 2018-19 (kharif, 3-60% and rabi, 30.8%). The voracious feeding and
long-distance flight behaviors exhibited by the fall armyworm indicated a significant threat to
agriculture with rapid dispersion throughout the hemisphere. The emergence of this notorious
pest presents a major challenge to maize farmers, as well as national food security in India.
FAW has the potential to cause yield loss of 8.3 to 20.6 M metric tons of maize annual
production per year, to minimize these losses and to safeguard the modest gains made in
securing the country’s food production, several actions have been undertaken by both farmers
and scientists. The conventional chemical management strategies are sometimes inconsistent
and often unsatisfactory to control the pest in maize. The use of insecticides as a pest
management tool for small-scale farmers in Mahabubnagar district is more frequent and causes
more damage to the ecosystem. To protect the environment, it is very important to follow
integrated pest management (IPM) packages which are cost-effective for smallholder farmers
in the region. An effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for control of FAW will
employ a variety of integrated approaches including biological control, cultural control, and
safer pesticides, to protect the crop from economic injury while minimizing negative impacts
on people, animals, and the environment. Keeping this in view, the present study was conducted
to popularize IPM measures against FAW at farmers’ fields as Front-Line Demonstrations
(FLD’s) during the kharif and rabi seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Methodology
The present study of front-line demonstration of integrated pest management of fall armyworm
in maize was taken up by District Agricultural Advisory and Transfer of Technology Centres
(DAATTCs), Mahabubnagar, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University
during kharif and rabi seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21. The total demonstrations were
conducted in seven locations covering seven villages in the Mahabubnagar district. The
farming situation under the study area was sandy to sandy loam with low to medium soil
Managing genetic resources for enhanced stress tolerance
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