Rice plants observed trapping and killing fall armyworm caterpillars

Rice plants and Venus flytraps share something in common that was not scientifically documented until recently. Using a faint smell to lure caterpillars into a trap, rice plants killed early-stage fall armyworm larvae by trapping them in a spikelet, the part at the end of a rice panicle where individual grains develop.

Bluesky

Genomics detective work reveals pest moth travels

The fall armyworm moth (Spodoptera frugiperda) is a notorious pest in agriculture. It devastates essential food crops and threatens global food security. It has been reported to feed on more than 350 plant species, ranging from maize to cotton and vegetables.

Biopesticides should be preferred over chemical pesticides for fall armyworm control, study suggests

Safer-to-use and more environmentally-friendly biopesticides should be preferred to fight the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) pest instead of more harmful chemical pesticides, a new CABI-led study published in the Journal of Pest Science suggests.