Effect of a nuclear polyhedrosis virus on Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) (Lepidoptera:noctuidae) larvae, its damage and yield of maize crop.

The efficiency of Baculovirus in a wettable powder formulation to control the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) was evaluated using variations of the recommended dose of 50 grams per hectare (2.5 x 1011 polyhedron inclusion bodies - PIB ha-1): 50 or 100 g ha-1 applied once, and variations of two applications at seven-day intervals, of 25+25, 25 + 50, 50+25 and 50+50 g ha-1, compared to untreated plots. The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with six replications. Each plant at 6-8 or 8-10-leaf growth stages, was artificially infested with 10 newly hatched larvae. The virus suspension (300 L ha-1) was applied 24 hours after larvae infestation using a back-pack-manual sprayer at 40 PSI (2.8 kg cm-2) and a regular flat fan nozzle. Larval mortality rate obtained from plots with the application of 50 g of Baculovirus wettable formulation ha-1, at once (96.2%), was significantly higher than that obtained with the application of 25+25 g ha-1 (85.3%) or 25 + 50 g ha-1 (87.8%). However, it was lower than that obtained from the other virus treatments, which had no significant difference among them (mean of 99.2%). The damage caused by S. frugiperda on the leaves of plants of untreated plots (average of 4.5 in an visual scale from 1 to 5) was significantly different from that observed in plots sprayed with virus (1.75 to 2.33). Plants protected with the virus produced significantly higher yield (mean of 7,577 kg ha-1) than plants unprotected (6,140 kg ha-1), that is, 23.4% higher