Fall armyworm research, development and extension for horticulture

Macquarie University researchers led by Dr Vivian Mendez have achieved a significant milestone under the Hort Innovation project AS21000 “Effective fall armyworm pheromone blends for improved monitoring and population estimation in Australia”. Recently published in the Australian Grower (Summer 2025/26), researchers report that the performance of four commercially available lures (Chemtica, Pherolure, Tréce and Iscalure), used to monitor fall armyworm in Australia, differed. Lures attracted similar numbers of fall armyworm across sites in Queensland, with this pattern being consistent for a wide diversity of crop types, but there was considerable variation across sites in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and New South Wales. The capture of non-target species, particularly false armyworm, also varied. In Queensland and Northern Territory, Chemtica and Iscalure attracted much larger numbers of false armyworm than Pherolure and Tréce, while in New South Wales and Western Australia, the results were much more mixed, with Pherolure and Tréce capturing larger numbers of false armyworm. There was substantial variation in the sex pheromone blend of moths collected from the different sites, with blends from northern field sites differing from those in the south. Based on these results, region-specific pheromone blends have been developed and incorporated in lures and are being tested in the field.

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More information: Dr Vivian Mendez, Macquarie University