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released in the field to control the pest. It
is good news since this parasitoid is pre
sent here and if chemical control is applied
with care to protect this invasive parasi
toid, it can act as biological control of fall
armyworm in South Africa.
There is thus potential for biological control
of the fall armyworm in South Africa to be
included in an integrated pest management
system for this pest in South Africa.
Harmful polyphagous pest
It is internationally known that fall army
worm is polyphagous, which means that
this pest can attack a wide range of crop
plants. It is reported that this pest attacks
over 80 plant species representing more
than 20 plant families. However, it has a
definite preference for grass crops and
will probably confine its attack to these
crops if continuously available. Because of
its wide host range, this species is one of
the most harmful pests threatening annual
crops in tropical regions.
During the past two seasons in South Africa
fall armyworm was reported on potatoes,
soybean, sugarcane, wheat and sorghum.
In these cases, damage was low and it is
not known if fall armyworm has the ability
to complete its life cycle on these crops.
However, maize still remains the most pre
ferred crop on which serious damage was
reported.
Integrated pest manage-
ment still the answer
While research on the fall armyworm is still
ongoing even more questions arise, which
requires more research. It should be empha
sised that an integrated pest management
approach will always be the best option for
control of any pest – and therefore also for
the fall armyworm. However, the current
approach to keep this pest under control is
to apply good integrated pest management
practices.
This means that producers should keep up
to date regarding the possible invasion of
a particular area, do scouting of fields for
infestation and apply pesticides judiciously
and only when needed. There is no single
control measure to manage fall
armyworm and control prac-
tices should be integrated.
1: Fall armyworm larva.
1
SONNEBLOM
SOJABONE
WIT MIELIES
GEEL MIELIES
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