Seasonal incidence of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) infesting sweet corn at Udaipur (Rajasthan)

Abstract

A study on the Seasonal Incidence of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) infesting sweet corn in Southern Rajasthan was conducted at the Agronomy farm, Department of Entomology, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur during kharif, 2024. The observations made during the study reveal that the fall armyworm appeared during the second week of July (28th SMW) with the initial mean larval population of 0.87 larvae per plant. The peak population of 2.47 larvae per plant was recorded in the third week of September (38th SMW). Thereafter, the population declined gradually and reached a minimum level of 1.80 larvae per plant during the first week of October (40th SMW). The correlation between fall army worm and abiotic parameters during kharif, 2024 indicated a significant positive correlation with sunshine hours (r=0.586) and a significant negative correlation with minimum temperature (r = -0.622).