The occurrence of a new invasive pest species of corn, the fall armyworms Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Indonesia is reported. Survey in 3 provinces in Indonesia: West Sumatera, Banten and West Java were conducted from March to June 2019. The first record of this pest was in 26 March 2019 in West Sumatera. Larvae were collected from each of those locations and field symptoms of damage on corn in the field were observed. Larvae were brought to and reared individually in Insect Biosystematics Laboratory of Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University. Identification of fall armyworm employed morphological and molecular analysis. Identification of the larva based on morphological characters of larvae from 3 provinces confirmed the identity of the pest. The pest as fall armyworms, while the molecular analysis indicated that Banten samples belonged to the ‘rice strain’. Collected larvae from Banten were infected by Metarhizium rileyi. The infested plants in the field showed the typical damage symptoms caused by the fall armyworm.

Synthetic pesticides are widely applied for pest and disease control in Indonesia. However, a lack of knowledge and use of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for safe pesticide usage among Indonesian farmers remains a problem. This study aims to investigate the gap between farmers' knowledge of GAP for safe pesticide usage and their application of it. This research was conducted in 2020 in five Indonesian provinces. Primary data collection was by means of a survey, in which 298 respondents answered structured questionnaires. The survey also identified the sources of the information recorded and the respondents' experience of pesticide exposure. The analysis tools used were the Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test and Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). There were significant differences in the results of the first analysis. These results appear to confirm the results of further analysis using IPA, which show that a high level of knowledge does not mean that farmers will apply this knowledge in practice: this is particularly relevant to wearing gloves and masks, using tools to remove blockages, never clearing blocked nozzles by blowing into them, and disposing of empty containers properly. Nevertheless, in some cases high levels of knowledge do result in high levels of application. Cases of pesticide exposure affecting human health by causing symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and vomiting confirm that GAP for pesticide usage are not being implemented properly by some farmers. It is therefore recommended that their knowledge should be enhanced through the series of technical training programs using participatory approaches, so that farmers accumulate knowledge which will drive them to adopt GAP for safe pesticide usage.

Insecticidal activity of extracts of Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray (Asteraceae) against the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae). The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) is one of the most destructive pests on cruciferous plants. Generally farmers use synthetic insecticides to control this pest. Intensive and excessive use of insecticides can cause some undesirable effects such as resistance, resurgence, and contamination of insecticide on environment. One effort to solve the problems caused by synthetic insecticides use is by utilization of botanical materials that are potential to be used as botanical insecticides, one of them is Tithonia diversifolia (Asteraceae). The purpose of this research was to study the insecticidal activity of T. diversifolia as a botanical insecticide against P. xylostella. The leaf residual and topical application methods were used to assess the mortality effect of the extracts. Insect mortality rate was analyzed using probit analysis to obtain LC50 and LC95 values. The results showed that the flower extract had better activity on insect mortality than the leaf extract both in leaf residual and topical application treatments.

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Characteristics and Toxicity of Nanoemulsion Formulations of Piper retrofractum and Tagetes erecta Extract Mixtures. Nanotechnology has been used in the developing of botanical insecticide formulation for improving its stability and effectiveness. The research was aimed to make nanoemulsion formulations of Piper retrofractum fruits and Tagetes erecta flowers extracts and to evaluate their toxicity against brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens [Stål]) nymphs. The development of nanoemulsion formulaions was carried out by using the low energy method with inversion phase emulsification.  The toxicity of the four formulations was tested against brown planthopper nymphs using a contact method. Four nanoemulsion formulations were obtained.  The study showed that in the developing of the formulations, the type and level of emulsifier materials affected the physical characteristics of formulas, such as stability, surface tension, viscosity, particle size, and particle morphology. The nanoemulsion formulation containing 1% of the mixture of P. retrofractum fruits and T. erecta flowers extracts, 1.75% Triton X-100 emulsifier showed the highest toxic on the brown planthopper nymph, with the LC95 value was 0.15%.  The study indicates that nanoemulsion formulation of P. retrofractum and T. erecta extracts are potential to be developed as botanical insecticide to control brown planthopper of rice.

Stingless bee, Tetragonula laeviceps, plays a primary role in ecosystem services as a pollinator for coffee, cocoa, and pepper. Attacks of insect pests cause low production of several plantation plants. Farmers commonly use synthetic insecticides to control insect pests. However, improper use of insecticides often adversely affects the ecosystem and human health, including pollinators. In Indonesia, research on the side effects of insecticides on non-target insects such as flower visitor insects (pollinators) is minimal. This study aimed to evaluate the attractiveness and toxicity of two insecticides to T. laeviceps. Stingless bees were obtained from beekeepers at Banten. Y-tube olfactometer test was used to determine the attractiveness of bees to insecticides, and a topical test was used to determine the mortality effect of insecticide on bees. The insecticides used were insecticide A (a.i. alpha-cypermethrin) and insecticide B (a.i. spinetoram) at 100 ppm and 60 ppm, respectively. The results showed that bees were more attracted to insecticide B by 73.3% than insecticide A (26.7%). Insecticide B caused 100% bee mortality after 48 hours after treatment (HAT), while Insecticide A caused 0% bee mortality after 48 HAT. The results indicate that insecticide B attracted stingless bees and has a high mortality level.

Abstract. Rahayuwati S, Kusumah YM, Prawirosukarto S, Dadang, Santoso T. 2020. Genetic variability of Indonesian Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV) as genus of Alphanudivirus. Biodiversitas 21: 2047-2055. Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV) is known as a successful classical biological control agent. Recent reports have revealed differences in pathogenicity among OrNV isolates, with correlation suspected between virus virulence and genetic variability. The aim of the research is to study the genetic variability of OrNV isolates based on the DNA polymerase (DNA pol) gene and their phylogenetic relationship with Genus Alphanudivirus. Oryctes rhinoceros (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) as an OrNV host were collected from Sumatra, Belitung, Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. Primers were designed to amplify complete gene of DNA pol. Sequencing, phylogenetic, and investigate genetic diversity scores were used to determine variability at nucleotide level. Five primers successfully amplified the entire DNA pol gene. Genetic variability of OrNV was high, from nine isolates found eight genetically different. Isolates could be divided into two groups of genetic diversity: high and low. High genetic diversity of OrNV supposed as an old population that occupied Sundaland and Wallacean paleogeography at first appearance in Miocene Era until early Pliocene 5 Mya. New population of OrNV had low genetic diversity were travel cross-island that supposed to correlate with oil palm plantation development and the genetic drift. The benefit information of the OrNV genetic variability is as preliminary guideline for virulence test. OrNV is a member of Nudiviridae family, Genus Alphanudivirus, and at recent moment they consist of eight species. Alphanudivirus infect Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera and Orthoptera order that soil as immature niche may explain their closely related taxa.

Susceptibility of the rice brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) from six locations in Java to three insecticides. The rice brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), is one of the important rice pests in Indonesia. Despite relatively frequent use of insecticides to control this pest, data on BPH resistance to insecticides commonly used by farmers in Indonesia is scarce. This study was conducted to assess the susceptibility of BPH from six locations in Java to three insecticides, i.e. BPMC, imidacloprid, and pymetrozine, and to find out the historical use of insecticides by rice farmers. The first laboratory generations of BPH adults were subjected to insecticide treatments using a leaf dip residual method as described in IRAC Method No 005. Resistance factor (RF) for BPMC and imidacloprid was determined by comparing LC50 of each insecticide against BPH field populations with that against the reference population, whereas the susceptibility of BPH to pymetrozine was assessed based on inhibition of BPH population development. The three insecticides used in this study were commonly used by farmers in the six sampling locations and those insecticides were mostly used twice per rice growing season. BPH populations from all six locations as well as the reference population were susceptible to pymetrozine in which the treatment with pymetrozine at 50 ppm (one-fifth of the recommended field rate) caused 100% inhibition of BPH population development. BPH from five locations showed resistance to imidacloprid (RF > 4), but that from Pasuruan did not (RF 2.0). BPH from Indramayu was resistant to BPMC (RF 6.6) whereas those from the other five locations were not (RF < 4). Exposure of the reference population to a sublethal dose of insecticides (LC50 or IC50) decreased the susceptibility of the third BPH generation to pymetrozine and BPMC but not to imidacloprid.