Mweke Allan, Rwomushana Ivan, Okello Arthur, Chacha Duncan, Guo Jingfei, Luke Belinda
Department of Animal Health and Production, School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Mount Kenya University, Thika P.O. Box 342-01000, Kenya.
Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) Africa, Canary Bird, 673 Limuru Road, Muthaiga, Nairobi P.O. Box 633-00621, Kenya.
Insects. 2023 Aug 3;14(8):686. doi: 10.3390/insects14080686.
Fall armyworm (FAW) is a major pest of maize and causes huge losses. Chemical pesticides are the commonly used control strategy among farmers. The efficacy of baculoviruses against FAW has been proven; however, farmers may not be able to afford the products. The use of farmer-produced baculovirus mixtures could provide an opportunity for a nature-based solution for FAW at a low cost. This study evaluated the potential of recycled virus inoculum from FAW larvae treated with a commercial baculovirus (Littovir) for the management of FAW under laboratory and field conditions. In the laboratory, the virus from 25, 50, 75 and 100 FAW larvae caused variable mortality among FAW instars. The highest mortality (45%) among 1-3 instars was caused by Littovir followed by recycled virus inoculum from 100 FAW larvae (36%). Under field conditions, even though recycled virus inoculum did not offer adequate protection against FAW damage, the maize yield was comparable to that of commercial insecticide-treated plots and similar to that of control plots. This study has shown the potential use of recycled virus inoculum from infected larvae for the management of FAW. This would offer the farmers a sustainable and affordable option for the management of FAW as it would require the farmers to purchase the commercial baculovirus once and collect larvae from treated plots for repeat applications.
草地贪夜蛾是玉米的主要害虫，会造成巨大损失。化学农药是农民常用的防治策略。杆状病毒对草地贪夜蛾的防治效果已得到证实；然而，农民可能买不起这些产品。使用农民自制的杆状病毒混合物可为以自然为基础的草地贪夜蛾防治方案提供低成本的机会。本研究评估了用商业杆状病毒（Littovir）处理的草地贪夜蛾幼虫的回收病毒接种物在实验室和田间条件下防治草地贪夜蛾的潜力。在实验室中，来自25、50、75和100头草地贪夜蛾幼虫的病毒在草地贪夜蛾各龄期造成了不同程度的死亡率。1至3龄幼虫中死亡率最高（45%）的是Littovir处理组，其次是来自100头草地贪夜蛾幼虫的回收病毒接种物处理组（36%）。在田间条件下，尽管回收病毒接种物对草地贪夜蛾造成的损害防护不足，但玉米产量与商业杀虫剂处理地块相当，与对照地块相似。本研究表明，利用受感染幼虫的回收病毒接种物防治草地贪夜蛾具有潜在用途。这将为农民提供一种可持续且经济实惠的草地贪夜蛾防治选择，因为这只需要农民购买一次商业杆状病毒，并从处理过的地块收集幼虫用于重复施用。
