Maize is the main staple food crop of the peoples of Nepal’s hills, ranking second only to rice in terms of area, production, and productivity 10. Preventive measures like a quality seed, early planting, field sanitation, conserving the pest’s natural enemy, push–pull technology, and plant diversity could reduce fall armyworm infestation to a large extent 9. Hence, it has created food insecurity mainly among small land-holding farmers in Asia and Africa who grow maize as their main staple food 7, 8. Several physical, chemical, and biological control strategies have been tried, but most are unsatisfactory for this destructive pest 6. Therefore, it has become a fascinating pest in many countries for its proper management 4, 5. The adult fall armyworm is a well-known sporadic species and can migrate up to 100 km in a single night. This polyphagous pest is native to North and South America attacks and feeds on over 350 plant species while easily surviving and reproducing in a variety of tropical and subtropical environment 1, 2, 3. Smith), is a voracious agricultural pest of global economic importance 1. The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Thus, an eco-friendly material like grease can be used as an agroecological method for managing fall armyworm larvae among small-scale land-holding maize farmers.
The armyworm larvae might get irritated, feel insecure, and move far away from the test plots searching for food materials. No crop damage was observed among the grease-treated plants, which might be due to restrictions in the movement of larvae on the maize crop. Fall armyworm larvae were found dead in the chemical-sprayed plots, but they were absent in the grease-applied fields.
A significant reduction in larval infestation was observed after 7-days of treatment applications. Emamectin benzoate sprayed at 0.4 g/liter of water and grease of about 0.15 g applied to the maize whorl or tip of a drooping leaf that touched the soil. The treatments were applied when the maize crop was at knee height and larvae damaged nearly 5–8% of the total plants. Standard agronomic package of practices followed for crop proper growth and development, and plant spacing maintained at 20 × 60 cm 2 with a plot size of 390 m 2. Smith) larvae load from a maize field in the winter seasons of 20 in Sarlahi, Nepal. An experiment was conducted to test the efficacy of grease and emamectin benzoate in a randomized complete block design with five replications to reduce fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E.
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