To check the spread of fall armyworm in maize, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana has advised farmers to regularly monitor the crop for the attack of the pest.
The university experts have suggested the following measures to control the attack of fall armyworm on maize:
Cultivation measures
- Sow the crop at recommended time only.
- Sow fodder maize only from mid-April to mid-August.
- For fodder maize, sow crop by mixing it with cowpea/bajra/jowar.
- Avoid staggered sowing of maize in adjacent fields to minimize spread of this pest.
Chemical methods to control the fall armyworm attack
- Spray the crop with Coragen 18.5 SC (chlorantraniliprole) @ 0.4 ml per litre water or Delegate 11.7 SC (spinetoram) @ 0.5 ml per litre or Missile 5 SG (emamectin benzoate) @ 0.4 g per litre using 120 litres of water per acre, for crop up to 20 days old. Thereafter for the older crop, the amount of water used per acre needs to be increased up to 200 litres with corresponding increase in dosage of above insecticides. For effective management of this pest, direct the nozzle towards the whorl.
- If the infestation is in patches or the crop is more than 40 days old and spraying is difficult, apply soil-insecticide mixture (about half gram) in the whorls of the infested plants to manage fall armyworm. To prepare soil–insecticide mixture, add 5 ml of Coragen 18.5 SC (chlorantraniliprole) or Delegate 11.7 SC (spinetoram) or 5 g of Missile 5 SG (emamectin benzoate) in 10 ml of water and mix well in one kg of soil.
Precaution
- Use gloves for preparation and application of the mixture.
- After spraying Coragen on the crop, don’t feed maize fodder to cattle till 21 days.
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