Intrusion of Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in Sugarcane and Its Control by Drone in China

Sugarcane is the main cash crop in Guangxi, China. Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is an invasive pest and has migrated to Guangxi since April 2019. FAW is spreading rapidly now and has distributed in over 18 provinces and municipals in China. Also FAW has been found to damage sugarcane seriously and is an urgent threat to sugarcane. In order to screen chemicals for effective FAW control, insecticides were sprayed by drone in field experiments. The results showed that the mixture of chlorfenapyr–chlorantraniliprole–lufenuron had the best control with 94.86% population decline rate with 94.94% control efficacy. The population decline rate and control efficacy of abamectin–chlorantraniliprole and chlorfenapyr–lufenuron were all over 80%. However, the treatment of abamectin–dursban had only 20.82% population decline rate and 21.85% control efficacy. Therefore, the spray of insecticide mixture of chlorfenapyr–chlorantraniliprole–lufenuron through drone would be recommended for FAW control.