Managing a Transboundary Pest: The Fall Armyworm on Maize in Africa

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) invaded Africa in 2016, and has since spread to all countries in sub-Saharan Africa, causing devastating effects on mainly maize and sorghum. The rapid spread of this pest is aided by its high reproductive rate, high migration ability, wide host range and adaptability to different environments, among others. Since its introduction, many governments purchased and distributed pesticides for emergency control, with minimal regard to their efficacy. In this chapter, we review efforts towards managing this pest, highlight key challenges, and provide our thoughts on considerations for sustainable management of the pest.

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Experiences and Perspectives on Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Journal of Integrated Pest Management ◽

10.1093/jipm/pmab002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Elizabeth Njuguna ◽

Phophi Nethononda ◽

Karim Maredia ◽

Ruth Mbabazi ◽

Paul Kachapulula ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spodoptera Frugiperda ◽

New Technologies ◽

Integrated Management ◽

Fall Armyworm ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Invasive Pest ◽

Published Evidence ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Lepidoptera Noctuidae

Abstract It has been over five years since the first report of an outbreak of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Africa. The highly invasive pest, native to the Americas, has since spread across the African continent attacking many crops and causing significant yield loss to Africa’s staple crop, maize. From the onset of the outbreak, there have been massive and varied responses from farmers, governments and nongovernmental organizations. This mini-review provides various perspectives on S. frugiperda control in sub-Saharan Africa, building on previously published evidence, and experiences of the authors. It also highlights new technologies and lessons learned so far from the S. frugiperda outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa, based on which suggestions on possible integrated management approaches are proffered.

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Transcriptional differences between the two host strains of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

10.1101/263186 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Marion Orsucci ◽

Yves Moné ◽

Philippe Audiot ◽

Sylvie Gimenez ◽

Sandra Nhim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spodoptera Frugiperda ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Fall Armyworm ◽

Distinct Species ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Diet Preference ◽

Rice Strain ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Impact ◽

Lepidoptera Noctuidae

AbstractSpodoptera frugiperda, the fall armyworm (FAW), is an important agricultural pest in the Americas and an emerging pest in sub-Saharan Africa, India, East-Asia and Australia, causing damage to major crops such as corn, sorghum and soybean. While FAW larvae are considered polyphagous, differences in diet preference have been described between two genetic variants: the corn strain (sf-C) and the rice strain (sf-R). These two strains are sometimes considered as distinct species, raising the hypothesis that ost plant specialization might have driven their divergence. To test this hypothesis, we irst performed controlled reciprocal transplant (RT) experiments to address the impact of plant diet on several traits linked to the fitness of the sf-C and sf-R strains. The phenotypical data suggest that sf-C is specialized to corn. We then used RNA-Se to identify constitutive transcriptional differences between strains, regardless of diet, in laboratory as well as in natural populations. We found that variations in mitochon rial transcription levels are among the most substantial and consistent differences between the two strains. Since mitochondrial genotypes also vary between the strains, we believe the mitochondria may have a significant role in driving strain divergence.

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The Spread of Fall Armyworm (faw) Spodotera Frugiperda

Outlooks on Pest Management ◽

10.1564/v29_oct_07 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 213-214 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Graham Matthews

Keyword(s):

Fall Armyworm ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Army Worm

The author introduces the next three articles on the invasion of Fall Army Worm into Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia describing how the pest spreads, the damage it causes and approaches to its control.

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Analysis of strain distribution, migratory potential, and invasion history of fall armyworm populations in northern Sub-Saharan Africa

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-018-21954-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Rodney N. Nagoshi ◽

Georg Goergen ◽

Kodjo Agbeko Tounou ◽

Komi Agboka ◽

Djima Koffi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Strain Distribution ◽

Fall Armyworm ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Invasion History ◽

History Of ◽

Sub Saharan

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Isolation and characterisation of bacteriophages with activity against invasive non-typhoidalSalmonellacausing bloodstream infection in Malawi

10.1101/2021.02.18.431836 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ella V. Rodwell ◽

Nicolas Wenner ◽

Caisey V. Pulford ◽

Yueyi Cai ◽

Arthur Bowers-Barnard ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Host Range ◽

Bloodstream Infection ◽

Bloodstream Infections ◽

Water Sources ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Geographically Distributed ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Uk

AbstractIn recent years, novel lineages of invasive non-typhoidalSalmonella(iNTS) serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis have been identified in patients with bloodstream infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we isolated and characterised 32 phages capable of infectingS. Typhimurium andS. Enteritidis, from water sources in Malawi and the UK. The phages were classified in three major phylogenetic clusters that were geographically distributed. In terms of host range, Cluster 1 phages were able to infect all bacterial hosts tested, whereas Clusters 2 and 3 had a more restricted profile. Cluster 3 contained two sub-clusters, and 3.b contained the most novel isolates. This study represents the first exploration of the potential for phages to target the lineages ofSalmonellathat are responsible for bloodstream infections in sub-Saharan Africa.

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SPODOPTERA FRUGIPERDA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE), AN INVASIVE PEST IN AGRICULTURAL CROPS AND ITS MANAGEMENT

Plant Protection ◽

10.33804/pp.004.03.3424 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 149-153

Author(s):

Ahmad Hassan Tahir ◽

Muhammad Tariq ◽

Aqsa Mazhar ◽

Muhammad Shehzad

Keyword(s):

Host Range ◽

Spodoptera Frugiperda ◽

Central Africa ◽

Fall Armyworm ◽

Cultural Control ◽

Invasive Pest ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

Favorable Conditions ◽

First Time ◽

Lepidoptera Noctuidae

Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) commonly known as fall armyworm (FAW), is a pest that invaded the sub-tropical and tropical regions of America. In 2016, it was reported for the first time in central Africa and within a year it was reported from many countries of Africa. It then spread in Asia and in 2018 it was reported in India, and now its infestation was seen in Pakistan. Its strong flight, climatic adaptableness and large host range makes it a good colonizing agent as compared to other species of Spodoptera. In potential managing strategies we must know about its primary information such as its biology, host range, habitat and favorable conditions. Identification and life cycle is the most important process in the management of this pest. IPM strategies include physical and cultural control, botanical control, biological control and chemical control. These strategies will help in management of FAW. All these aspects have been reviewed in this article.

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Genomic Prediction of Tropical Maize Resistance to Fall Armyworm and Weevils: Genomic Selection Should Focus on Effective Training Set Determination

10.20944/preprints202007.0336.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Arfang Badji ◽

Lewis Machida ◽

Daniel Bomet Kwemoi ◽

Frank Kumi ◽

Dennis Okii ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genomic Selection ◽

Genomic Prediction ◽

Insect Pests ◽

Fall Armyworm ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Tropical Maize ◽

Training Set ◽

Maize Weevil ◽

Maize Resistance ◽

Sub Saharan

Genomic selection (GS) can accelerate variety release by shortening variety development phase when factors that influence prediction accuracies (PA) of genomic prediction (GP) models such as training set (TS) size and relationship with the breeding set (BS) are optimized beforehand. In this study, PAs for the resistance to fall armyworm (FAW) and maize weevil (MW) in a diverse tropical maize panel composed of 341 double haploid and inbred lines were estimated. Both phenotypic best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs) and estimators (BLUEs) were predicted using 17 parametric, semi-parametric, and nonparametric algorithms with a 10-fold and 5 repetitions cross-validation strategy. n. For both MW and FAW resistance datasets with an RBTS of 37%, PAs achieved with BLUPs were at least as twice as higher than those realized with BLUEs. The PAs achieved with BLUPs for MW resistance traits: grain weight loss (GWL), adult progeny emergence (AP), and number of affected kernels (AK) varied from 0.66 to 0.82. The PAs were also high for FAW resistance RBTS datasets, varying from 0.694 to 0.714 (for RBTS of 37%) to 0.843 to 0.844 (for RBTS of 85%). The PAs for FAW resistance with PBTS were generally high varying from 0.83 to 0.86, except for one dataset that had PAs ranging from 0.11 to 0.75. GP models showed generally similar predictive abilities for each trait while the TS designation was determinant. There was a highly positive correlation (R=0.92***) between TS size and PAs for the RBTS approach while, for the PBTS, these parameters were highly negatively correlated (R=-0.44***), indicating the importance of the degree of kinship between the TS and the BS with the smallest TS (31%) achieving the highest PAs (0.86). This study paves the way towards the use of GS for maize resistance to insect pests in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Fall‐armyworm invasion, control practices and resistance breeding in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Crop Science ◽

10.1002/csc2.20317 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 60 (6) ◽

pp. 2951-2970 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Prince M. Matova ◽

Casper N. Kamutando ◽

Cosmos Magorokosho ◽

Dumisani Kutywayo ◽

Freeman Gutsa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fall Armyworm ◽

Resistance Breeding ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Sub Saharan

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Geographic Monitoring of Insecticide Resistance Mutations in Native and Invasive Populations of the Fall Armyworm

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects12050468 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 468

Author(s):

Sudeeptha Yainna ◽

Nicolas Nègre ◽

Pierre J. Silvie ◽

Thierry Brévault ◽

Wee Tek Tay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Insecticide Resistance ◽

Fall Armyworm ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Pest Species ◽

Resistance Mutations ◽

Chinese Populations ◽

Bt Resistance ◽

Native Populations ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Lepidopteran Pest

Field evolved resistance to insecticides is one of the main challenges in pest control. The fall armyworm (FAW) is a lepidopteran pest species causing severe crop losses, especially corn. While native to the Americas, the presence of FAW was confirmed in West Africa in 2016. Since then, the FAW has been detected in over 70 countries covering sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. In this study, we tested whether this invasion was accompanied by the spread of resistance mutations from native to invasive areas. We observed that mutations causing Bt resistance at ABCC2 genes were observed only in native populations where the mutations were initially reported. Invasive populations were found to have higher gene numbers of cytochrome P450 genes than native populations and a higher proportion of multiple resistance mutations at acetylcholinesterase genes, supporting strong selective pressure for resistance against synthetic insecticides. This result explains the susceptibility to Bt insecticides and resistance to various synthetic insecticides in Chinese populations. These results highlight the necessity of regular and standardized monitoring of insecticide resistance in invasive populations using both genomic approaches and bioassay experiments.

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