Fall armyworm final technical reports
Plant Health Australia (PHA) in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) have published the final reports for three national research and development (R&D) projects to minimise the damaging consequences of Fall armyworm (FAW; Spodoptera frugiperda) to Australian plant industries.
FAW was first detected in the northern parts of Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. Due to their fast migration , it was determined that FAW was unfeasible to eradicate and it is now classified as an established pest in these areas.
The program identified critical gaps in fall armyworm knowledge of national interest, through a national R&D forum and prioritised and developed the following projects:
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- Genomic insight of FAW movement in Australia, (CSIRO, Wee Tek Tay), seeking to (1) apply established population genomic analysis pipeline to understand the genetic contribution of new migrants to the established Australia FAW populations, and (2) to understand the level of population connectedness between Australian FAW populations.
Final Technical Report – Genomic insights of FAW
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- Understanding the key market drivers that will underpin the development of an Insecticide Resistance Management Strategy for FAW, (ICAN, Mark Congreve), seeking to understand existing crops x region x insect pest occurrence for the identified important host crops for FAW. Current insecticide use by region will be explored, including documenting any successful IRMS that are already in place for other pests. The project will also seek to explore how FAW management is likely to change insecticide use patterns.
Final Technical Report – Understanding key market drivers for resistance management
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- Surveying and testing locally occurring insect viruses for use in Fall Armyworm management, (QDAF, Ian Newton), seeking to collect local endemic insect viruses found in Fall Armyworm and related insects and determine if local endemic viruses are more effective on FAW than imported commercial virus based biopesticides.
Final Technical Report – Survey of local insect viruses for FAW management
The fourth final project report on Rapid real-time simulation of wind-assisted long-ranged dispersal of fall armyworm in Australia. (CESAR, James Maino), will be released later this year.
