Assessment of Pull- and Push Technologies in Managing Spodoptera frugiperda in Maize and Multivariate Analysis of Associated Variables
Munsanda Walubita
School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mulungushi University, Box 80415, Kabwe, Zambia.
Nchimunya Bbebe
School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mulungushi University, Box 80415, Kabwe, Zambia.
Langa Tembo *
Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Zambia, Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: The effect of push and pull technology in controlling Spodoptera frugiperda in maize may vary depending on environment understudy and the cereal- legume combination treatment employed. The objectives of this study were therefore, to; i) assess the effectiveness of push-pull technologies in controlling Spodoptera frugiperda infestation in maize ii) cluster the technologies into distinct sets, and iii) identify the variables with high discriminating influence among clustered push-pull technology sets.
Place and Duration of Study: The research was undertaken in Chilanga district, Zambia during the 2021/ 22 cropping season.
Methodology: The experiment was laid as a randomised complete block design (RCBD) with three replications and 6 treatments. Four push –pull combinations and the two controls (Negative and Positive). Maize was used as a test crop. Data on Spodoptera frugiperda incidence was collected at weekly intervals for a period of 5 weeks and at harvest from maize crop. Analysis on measured variables was computed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and principle component analysis (PCA), a multivariate tool.
Results: Significant differences were obtained on all measured variables except harvest index with regards to push- pull treatments main effects (P =0.05). The evaluation of treatments using principal component analysis showed that push - pull treatments clustered into four sets, arising from a phenotypic variation explained of 89.1%.
Conclusion: This study revealed Pearl millet/ Marigold push-pull treatment as the best performing treatment with a mean maize test yield value of 7.2 tons per hectare. For variables: number of damaged leaves, injury score leaves, egg batch, biomass with cobs, shelling %, plant height and grain yield were identified as important at differentiating the performance of push pull technologies.
Keywords: Fall armyworm, Zea mays, principal component analysis, yield, integrated pest management