Mahla, M. K.KALYAN, DEEPIKA2020-12-232020-12-232020-08-26Kalyan D. And Mahla M.K.https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810157158Bio-ecology of the fall armyworm maize and its molecular characterizationThe present investigations on “Bio-ecology of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) on maize and its molecular characterization” was carried out at Agricultural Research Station, Banswara, Department of Entomology and the Instructional farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur during Kharif, 2019. The studies on the biology of fall armyworm on maize revealed that the average fecundity of this pest was 1562 eggs/female and the incubation period was 3.38 days. The larvae developed through six instars that took 2.82, 2.50, 2.10, 2.02, 2.70 and 4.90 days respectively for the 1st through 6th instar. The total larval period was 16.87 days. The pupal period lasted for 8.83 days. The pre-oviposition, oviposition and post-oviposition period were 3.39, 2.92 and 6.20 days, respectively. The longevity of female adults was 12.20 days; while, that of the male adults was 9.81 days. The total time taken to complete the life cycle was 40.24 days. The morphometric data viz., larval body length; pupal length and adult body length and wing span were measured. The population of fall armyworm and its larval parasitoids reached to their peaks in the 3rd week of August (33rd SMW) and both showed a significant positive correlation (r = 0.68), (r = 0.64) with total rainfall, respectively. During the study, a total of 6 hymenopteran larval parasitoids comprising 3 species of Braconidae, 2 species of Ichneumonidae and 1 species of Bethylidae were recorded. The fall armyworm population in maize followed aggregated pattern of distribution. The studies on molecular characterization of fall armyworm larvae collected from maize fields revealed that they belonged to “Rice strain”.EnglishThesis