Caterpillar Spodera trugiperada is now starting to ravage China's crops specifically the country's maizes. Upon its arrival in China last January, different parameters have been developing in order to control it including experimentation on its predators.
The said pest is originally from Central and South America and has been spreading around the world damaging crops. In fact, Africa and Southern Asia have already lost 50% of yield in its maizes. Furthermore, since its arrival in Africa in 2016, the country lost 1-4 billion dollars a year.
Eighteen provinces in China have been affected. The dilemma added to China's battles since it was already facing problems such as the epidemic of contagious virus that affected pigs and the African Swine fever which led to the culling of one million animals.
For some, the situation can be considered manageable but for Gao, an entomologist at Nanjing Agricultural University and monitoring the insects spread, the situation can damage more crops and probably will eventually arrive in Northern China which is the largest producers of maize (corn).
"The spread of fall armyworm in China will have a significant impact, along with the spread of swine fever, on Chinese consumers," said Cong Cao, a researcher at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.
Plant-Protection centers in the provinces and cities are in the move of monitoring and controlling the fall armyworms' spread. The adult moths that are responsible for its spread can travel a hundred kilometers over a night. Also, Scientists such as Hu and in other Chinese Universities are studying chemicals that can be the key to killing the insects as a means of biological control, according to Nature.
The United States Department of Agriculture reported that the fall armyworm did not have any natural predators but Hu refuted this conclusion. Based on previous studies, the Spodoptera genes which the fall armyworm belongs, other relatives of the said pest such as the cotton leafworm and bed armyworm were killed by China's Bracanoid wasps. From this information, Hu thinks that wasps can also be a possible predator of armyworms caterpillar. Aside from this, researchers from the Institute of Plant Protection have found that the stink bunk Arma Chinensis kills the caterpillar. Moreover, in Africa, parasitoids young were found to feed on African cotton leafworm but have already switched on the fall armyworm.
However, according to Du Li, a specialist in biotechnology law at the University of Macao, genetically modified food has not been approved in China due to public opposition. Though it would help to manage the pests, still, there is no 100% assurance that it will keep the pest away long since in the United States insects have developed resistance towards the BT crops.
Researchers stated that the pest will probably enter South Korea and Japan by next week.
