G20 Discussion group on Fall Armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E.Smith) [Lepidoptera: Noctuidae] International Workshop on Facilitating International Research Collaboration on Transboundary Plant Pests November 27, 2019 Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan G20 Discussion group on ‘Fall Armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E.Smith) [Lepidoptera: Noctuidae]’ Sengottaiyan Vennila1, Zhenying Wang2, Ken Young3, Jeevan Khurana3, Ivan Cruz4, Julian Chen2, Bernard Reynaud5, Helene Delatte5, Peter Baufeld6, Rajan1, Pio Federico Roversi7, Elisabetta Gargani7, Akira Otuka8, Youichi Kobori9, Jun Tabata10, Motonori Sasaki10, Hong- Hyun Park11, Gwan-Seok11, LeeAhmed Mohammed AlJabr12, Suliman Ali Al-Khateeb12, Rob Meagher13, Rebijith Kayattukandy Balan14, Roger Day15, Prasanna Boddupalli16, Shoki Al- Dobai17, Elisabetta Tagliati17 and Maged Elkahky17 1 Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India; 2 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China; 3 The Grains Research and Development Corporation, Australia; 4 Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), Brazil; 5 Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, France; 6 Julius Kühn-Institute, Germany; 7 Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy; 8 National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Japan; 9 Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Japan; 10 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan; 11 National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Korea; 12 Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Saudi Arabia; 13 U.S. Department of Agriculture, United States;14 Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand; 15 Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, United Kingdom, 16 The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Kenya and 17 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations MISSION STATEMENT “Global challenges require global cooperation and collaboration. International collaboration brings together greater diversity and congregation of ideas involving increased innovations towards solving problems of transboundary plant pests ranging from prevention, early detection, delay and reduction of outbreaks through efficient and effective management of invasions” CONTENTS Page no. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 ABBREVIATIONS 3 1 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 4 1.1 Origin and Spread in Americas 4 1.2 Invasion in Africa 4 1.3 Invasion and Spread in Asia 4 1.4 FAW amongst G20 Countries 4 2 TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF FAW 5 3 SPATIO TEMPORAL SPREAD WITHIN COUNTRY 7 3.1 India 7 3.2 China 7 3.3 Korea 8 3.4 Japan 8 4 FAW DIAGNOSTICS 8 4.1 Morphological 8 4.2 Molecular 9 4.3 Decoding FAW genome 10 5 HOST PROFILE AND PREFERENCES OF FAW 10 6 AREA UNDER FAW INFESTATION 10 7 LEVELS OF FAW INFESTATION 11 8 ESTIMATES OF YIELD LOSS DUE TO FAW 11 9 BIOLOGY OF FAW 11 10 MONITORING TOOLS FOR FAW 12 11 FAW MANAGEMENT 12 11.1 Host Plant Resistance [Native Genetic Resistance] 12 11.2 Host Plant Resistance [Transgenics] 14 11.3 Agro-ecological management of FAW 15 11.4 Biological Control and Biopesticides 15 11.5 FAW Management in India 16 11.6 FAW Management in China 18 11.7 FAW Management in Korea 19 11.8 FAW Management in Japan 19 12 INITIATIVES BY G20 MEMBER COUNTRIES PRE OR POST FAW INVASION 19 12.1 India 19 12.2 China 20 12.3 FAO and FAW 20 12.4 CABI & FAW 21 12.5 CIMMYT and FAW 22 12.6 Constraints on FAW Management 23 13 PROJECTS ON FAW 24 14 WAY FORWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION 24 15 REFERENCES 25-31 G20 Discussion on ‘Fall Armyworm [Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E.Smith); Lepidoptera: Noctuidae]’ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fall armyworm [Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith); Lepidoptera:Noctuidae] described almost two centuries before as native to tropical and subtropical regions of America has invaded Africa in 2016 and into Asia by 2018 with spread across South East Asian countries during 2019. Often described as a sporadic pest with outbreaks at irregular intervals erstwhile, during the last half a decade FAW is emerging as a key pest in areas of recent invasions, and poses major challenge to maize farm holdings of Africa and Asia. While primary and economic crop of importance attacked by FAW is maize, the polyphagous insect also reported to damage sorghum and additional host plants across diverse plant families. Although regional air transport systems have been attributed to facilitate transboundary movement of FAW, increasing trade and travel of agricultural commodities and people across and within continents inclusive of stowaway play a potential role in rapid spread of the insect. Compendium on invasive species of CABI documents the FAW invasions geographically in addition to all related resources across globe. Eleven and nine countries among G20 have presence and absence of FAW, respectively as of mid - November 2019, with Germany successfully eradicating a single introduction as early as 1999. Yield loss estimates of recent invasions range from a minimum of one to a maximum of hundred percent varying with crops and agro ecological regions. Potential monetary loss projected due to FAW attack in Africa was US$ 16 billion/annum. Morphological diagnosis of damaging larval and sexually dimorphic adult stages of FAW is possible at field level. At molecular level FAW, populations have shown existence of corn (C) and rice (R) strains in addition to their hybrids. Of late, genetic differences among subpopulations of FAW and mechanisms of adaptation to pesticides have been documented in China. This could possibly have a greater significance across locations in terms of host plants and extent of damage inflicted not to mention of evolving diversity in behavioural patterns such as flight capacities and components of chemical signal (pheromones). Life history parameters of FAW have been well-documented with reports of optimum temperature for larval development as 28C with a lower threshold temperature of 10.9°C and 559 accumulated day-degrees although overwintering by FAW needs to be confirmed at places of climatic unsuitability. Both detection and monitoring surveys use pheromone traps and field scouting of FAW although light traps/search lights are deployed in China, Korea and Japan. Sources of FAW resistance in maize, sorghum and pearl millet have been identified. Institutions such as CIMMYT are making intensive efforts for developing/identifying elite maize germplasm with native genetic resistance to FAW in Africa and Asia. Transgenic maize across countries of America and Africa involving single or combinations of Bt events is available offering partial resistance to FAW. Management of FAW by synthesis and 1 deployment of pest management tools such as cultural, mechanical, biological (natural and Page Report on ‘FAW Discussion Group’ for the International Workshop on Facilitating International Research Collaboration on Transboundary Plant Pests applied), behavioural (pheromone lures) and chemical insecticides with thresholds available or adopted at different countries have been elaborated in addition to agro-ecological measures and traditional methods reducing FAW damage. Insecticides recommended vary with countries and ‘label claims’ have been an issue due to sudden invasion however are recommended with tentative approvals. Each country of invasion has taken various initiatives right from awareness creation, trainings on identification of FAW and damage, monitoring male moths and damage scouting and issue of management advisories to keep the population below economic damage. Web based FAW portals of FAO and CABI [http://www.fao.org/fall-armyworm and https://www.cabi.org/isc/fallarmyworm] offer a wide range of news, research, practical extension materials, videos and other resources. Mobile app on FAW Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS) implemented by FAO is a step forward to understand the field dynamics of FAW population and damage over larger areas that can aid in decision management and it could be used as a platform for linking different stakeholders to each other. Almost all participating G20 countries have concerns over FAW occurrence and taking steps either through quarantine or by management. Considering the large amount of research findings and experiences available on FAW, member countries where FAW is absent have remarked the need for effective protocols of FAW inspection of commodities and human transport by NPPOs facilitated through capacity building for pest risk analysis, certification, robust documentation, reporting and information exchange. A global platform for studies on documentation of host plants of FAW, establishing behavioural (feeding/migration/ chemoreception/insecticide resistance) variations in spatial and temporal strains of FAW would lead to strategic FAW management. Collaboration for holistic understanding of migratory patterns, overwintering and forecast of FAW in the context of climate change spearheaded by global organisations embedded with data exchange and analytics would improve sustainable FAW management and provide lessons for other transboundary pests. Development of molecular based rapid detection kits for FAW diagnosis, exploitation of genomics and bioinformatics for host plant resistance and identification of precise blends of semiochemicals for field use could be areas of collaboration across countries of FAW presence. Organisations such as CABI, FAO, USDA, CIMMYT and EPPO could play a pivotal role in bringing together the global community for research collaborations on FAW considering their areas of expertise, extensive partnerships and willingness with deliverables applicable