Baseline Toxicity for the invasive populations of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda in different districts of Jammu region

Abstract

Spodoptera frugiperda has invaded Jammu and colonized its populations mainly in sub-tropical regions of Jammu since 2020. This initial discovery served as a stark warning sign, signalling the potential threat posed by this invasive pest to the agricultural landscape of Jammu and Kashmir. The emergence of fall armyworm in Parwah village quickly escalated into a widespread phenomenon, akin to a spark igniting a firestorm, spreading rapidly across the maize-growing districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The insidious nature of fall armyworm allowed it to permeate through various regions of different districts, causing widespread devastation among farmers and their maize crops. Its rapid spread cause havoc among farmers and they start using Chemical spray to control the pest, which shall lead to resistance evolution. In this research, we collected four populations of the pest from Kathua, Samba, Jammu and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir and tested their susceptibilities to Chloropyrifos, cypermethrin, profenopos and lambdacyhalothrin (total 4 insecticides) in the laboratory. Based on the susceptible baseline calculated from the Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) population, NBAIR, Bangalore. The results of 24, 48 and 72 hours after treatment in present study indicated that chloropyrifos and cypermethrin insecticides showed higher resistance compared to λ-cyhalothrin and profenofos insecticides. Based on the studies of insecticide usage pattern major maize growing districts of Jammu region found as high insecticide resistance area comprising of Kathua, Samba districts, moderate insecticide resistance comprising of Jammu, while low insecticide resistance found in fall armyworm population of Rajouri.