Fall Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Consumption and Utilization of Nine Bermudagrasses

Compensatory responses of the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) when fed water‐ and cellulose‐diluted diets

“…Although many of the values for nutritional indices presented in these latter studies are different from our data and those of Crocomo & Parra (1985), within-study comparisons suggest that consumption increases, and growth rate and food utilization efficiencies decrease, on poorer quality forage (Quisenberry & Wilson, 1985;Jamjanya & Quisenberry, 1988). We conducted stepwise multiple regressions on the means published by these authors and found that some of the changes in caterpillar performance on foliage were similar to those that we found using artificial diets (Table 3), including decreased dw consumption, growth, and biomass gain with increased foliage water content.…”

“…Differences in performance included increased consumption rates but poor absorption and conversion of corn, decreased consumption rates but greater absorption and conversion of wheat, and moderate consumption rates and conversion of sorghum. The forage quality of different bermudagrass varieties influenced feeding and food utilization by caterpillars of S. frugiperda (Quisenberry & Wilson, 1985;Lynch et al, 1986;Chang et al, 1987;Jamjanya & Quisenberry, 1988). Varieties with higher levels of crude protein and higher digestibility (based on ruminant digestibility) improved caterpillar survival, reduced develop-(2), RGR and lipid content were higher on the latter.…”

“…This range of dietary water content represents the extremes of low and high moisture found in reprpentative host plants of S.frugiperdu (Chang et al, 1987). The cellulose content of the diets [41-69% dry weight (dw)] exceeds that normally found in forage crops (Jamjanya & Quisenberry, 1988); however, these levels may be representative of the total quantity of generally indigestible material (primarily lignin and hemicellulose) found in other foliage types (Van Soest, 1982). The stated levels of cellulose represent the amount added to the standard diet whose ingredients (e.g.…”

“…Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) is potentially a very polyphagous herbivore; however, the caterpillars feed primarily on graminaceous species (Luginbill, 1928;Ashley et al, 1989). Although some studies have addressed the performance of S. frugiperda caterpillars on various host plant varieties (Quisenberry & Wilson, 1985;Lynch et al, 1986;Chang et al, 1987;Jamjanya & Quisenberry, 1988) or species (Crocomo & Parra, 1985), little is known about the factors affecting their consumption and utilization of food. In the present study we investigated the compensatory feeding responses of S. frugiperda caterpillars to diets diluted with water and cellulose, and the impact of these responses on caterpillar performance.…”

Zoysiagrass Genotype Responses to <I>Sphenophorus venatus vestitus</I> (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

“…Different Bermuda grass (Cynodon spp.) cultivars exhibit antibiosis against the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda J. E. Smith (Quisenberry and Wilson 1985, Jamjanya and Quisenberry 1988, Croughan and Quisenberry 1989, and several St. Augustinegrass, Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walter) Kuntze, cultivars have demonstrated antibiosis against the southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis Barber (Reinert and Dudeck 1974, Busey 1993, Nagata and Cherry 2003, Rangasamy et al 2006. Bermuda grass cultivars also show a range of tolerance or resistance to damage induced by the Bermuda grass mite, Eriophyes cynodoniensis Sayed (Reinert et al 1978(Reinert et al , 2008.…”