Association between temperature and life table development of Fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda under control condition

Abstract Fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) (FAW) is one of the devastating polyphagous pests having a wide range of host plants that contribute substantial losses to crop cultivation. For such pests, temperatures exert a significant impact on biology, distribution, and abundance. Hence the present study was executed with the aims of evaluating the effects of different temperatures on the growth and development of fall armyworm. FAW larvae collected from the infested field and were reared in three different temperatures regimes viz. 25±1°C (T25), 30±1°C (T30) and 35 ±1°C (T35) incubator provided with 12:12 photo period. Life table and fecundity tables were calculated using growth parameters. The results indicated that the mean duration of each stage of lifecycle at three different temperatures were significantly different from each other. The accumulated mortality at the adult stage was 95%, 61% and 64% at T35, T30 and T25 respectively. The net reproductive rate (Ro) was 132.17, the average period of generation time (Tc) was less in T30 (32.31) with the daily finite rate of increase in number (λ) was 1.1702 females/female/day and a population doubling time of 3.004 days. Similarly, the intrinsic rate of natural increase in number (rm) was 0.1511 females/female/ day and hypothetical female population in the F2 generation was found to be higher at T30 (17468.20) thus the results indicated that T30 favors the growth and development of FAW compared to the other tested temperatures. Our findings could be useful for the implication in pest management and forecasting.