Incidence of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) on different host plants in northern Karnataka, India

The recent invasion of fall armyworm has created havoc in India. The pest has a wide range of hosts and poses a serious threat to a tropical country like India with diversified agriculture. The survey revealed a significant damage of fall armyworm was recorded on maize (6.00 to 100.00%). Apart from maize, the incidence of fall armyworm has been first time observed on 9 other crops. The absence of egg-laying on these crops indicated a possibility of migration from its preferred hosts viz., maize and sorghum. The percent incidence varied from 6.00 to 100.00, 2.22 to 40.43 per cent, 25.73-42.58 per cent and 30.31 to 38.44 per cent on maize, sorghum, hybrid sorghum and fodder sorghum varieties respectively. However, the infestation on other 07 unconventional crops was recorded from 0.12 to 10.21 per cent, while rest other 33 crops were completely free from infestation.