DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF FALL ARMYWORM (SPODOPTERA FRUGIPERDA)

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to evaluate the damage assessment of FAW on early season maize. The specific objectives were to estimate FAW damage in different maize variety and Days after Sowing (DAS) and to estimate plant injury due to FAW in different maize varieties across the days after sowing. The experiment was carried out between April to July 2021 at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with four treatment and three replications. Four varieties of maize were used; two hybrids (Oba 98 and Oba super-6) and two local varieties (white and yellow maize). Data analysis was done using Analysis of variance, Genstat and least significant test was used for separation of means. From the study, significant differences were observed in means of damaged score between the different DAS with 40 DAS having the highest number of severity (2.350^a) while there were no significant differences between means of number of damaged plant in the four maize varieties, Vl (1.085^a), V2 (1.1.233^a), V3 (1.210^a) and V4 (1.337^a). The distribution of FAW larval stages did not totally vary with the phenological stages of the maize as they were distributed across all stages except the maturity stage. From the result obtained from this study, infestation of FAW was dependent on the DAS but independent of the maize variety grown. It is therefore important to understand the activity of the Fall armyworm with respect to the level of infestation and extent of damage on maize during the cropping season as detecting Fall armyworm infestation before it causes economic damage is the key to its management.