Egg laying and damage by fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda J. E Smith on maize variety HJ 21 at screen house

Fall Armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an invasive pest on maize crop in Indonesia. FAW larvae damage the young leaves, leaf whorl, anthesis stems, and corn cobs. The purpose of the study was to observe the ability of FAW female egg-laying on the HJ 21 variety and the pest damage. The experiment held in the screen house of the Indonesian Cereal Research Institute from June to October 2020. The parameters were the number of egg mass, the number of larvae per plant, and the percentage of damaged leaves. The results showed that the female started to lay the eggs at 10 (day after planting) DAP. There were four egg-laying peaks, especially in the vegetative phase, namely at 10, 13, 19, and 34 DAP with 17, 17, 18, and 15 egg mass respectively. The percentage of damage increase from 14 and 21 DAP (68.9% and 69.3%) and increased to 77 DAP with 98.4%. the observation also showed that all plants were attacked by FAW. The average number of larvae observed at 14, 21, and 77 DAT was 0.86, 0.99, and 2.71, respectively.