author(s)
CP Mallapur, Anjan Kumar Naik, Sireesh Hagari, Praveen T, RK Patil and S Lingappa

abstract
Fall armyworm is an invasive insect pest on maize which is causing huge loss to maize cultivators in Northern Karnataka. The field survey conducted in these areas during kharif 2018 indicated that the entomopathogenic fungi, Nomuraea rileyi is natural occurring on Spodoptera frugiperda with its infection ranging from 1.87 percent in Vijaypur to 18.30 percent in Dharwad district while, the percent damage of fall armyworm on maize ranged between 12.42 in Uttar Kannada and 65.73 percent in Dharwad district. Further, three large scale field evaluation studies conducted on this pathogen against the fall armyworm in maize revealed 58.91 to 62.87 percent reduction of pest infestation in these localities. Similarly, the larval and leaf injury reduction after 15 days of spraying N. rileyi ranged from 62.50 to 66.46 and 66.84 to 73.05 percent, respectively. The studies indicated the high potentiality of N. rileyi in combating the notorious invasive pest, S. frugiperda. This is the first report from India with respect to efficacy of N. rileyi against S. frugiperda under field conditions.