{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T06:25:21Z","timestamp":1787639121704,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787616000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001503","name":"Indian Council of Agricultural Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001503","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic>Spodoptera frugiperda<\/jats:italic>\n                      (J.E. Smith), commonly known as the fall armyworm, is one of the most destructive insect pests of maize worldwide, causing substantial economic losses. Its widespread occurrence and increasing resistance to conventional insecticides have intensified the need for effective and sustainable management approaches. Reliance on chemical pesticides not only accelerates resistance development but also poses significant risks to the environment and beneficial non-target organisms. Consequently, environmentally friendly alternatives, particularly biological control strategies, are gaining importance as viable components of integrated pest management programs for this pest.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In the present study, the susceptibility of the larval and pupal stages of\n                      <jats:italic>S. frugiperda<\/jats:italic>\n                      to two indigenous entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) species,\n                      <jats:italic>Steinernema shori<\/jats:italic>\n                      NBAIRS80 and\n                      <jats:italic>Steinernema indicum<\/jats:italic>\n                      NBAIRS58, was assessed. The effect of different concentrations of infective juveniles (IJs) of\n                      <jats:italic>S. indicum<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>S. shori<\/jats:italic>\n                      on their reproductive potential in third-instar\n                      <jats:italic>S. frugiperda<\/jats:italic>\n                      larvae was also investigated under laboratory conditions. Furthermore, the efficacy of\n                      <jats:italic>S. indicum<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>S. shori<\/jats:italic>\n                      against\n                      <jats:italic>S. frugiperda<\/jats:italic>\n                      was evaluated under both pot and field conditions.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Results revealed that under laboratory conditions, both EPN species exhibited high virulence against third, fourth, and sixth instar larvae, achieving 100.0% mortality as the concentration increased from 20 to 420 IJs larva\n                      <jats:sup>-1<\/jats:sup>\n                      . However,\n                      <jats:italic>S. shori<\/jats:italic>\n                      caused significantly higher mortality than\n                      <jats:italic>S. indicum<\/jats:italic>\n                      . A similar trend was recorded in pupae, where\n                      <jats:italic>S. shori<\/jats:italic>\n                      caused 81.0% mortality compared to 65.0% by\n                      <jats:italic>S. indicum<\/jats:italic>\n                      . Both species were able to penetrate the larvae and complete their life cycles, producing a higher number of infective juveniles (IJs). However, in both species, penetration declined significantly at higher IJ concentrations. Although emamectin benzoate performed better than both EPN species under both pot and field conditions,\n                      <jats:italic>S. shori<\/jats:italic>\n                      showed improved performance in reducing larval populations after the second round of spraying.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Considering its effectiveness and environmental safety, the present study highlights the potential of\n                      <jats:italic>S. shori<\/jats:italic>\n                      as a biological control agent against the larval and pupal stages of\n                      <jats:italic>S. frugiperda.<\/jats:italic>\n                      Future studies should evaluate its efficacy against other economically important insect pests and assess its performance under diverse environmental conditions to support its wider field application.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1919468","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T05:35:35Z","timestamp":1787636135000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Unravelling the efficacy and reproductive potential of newly discovered entomopathogenic nematodes, Steinernema indicum and Steinernema shori against Spodoptera frugiperda in maize"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Jagadeesh","family":"Patil","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ICAR\u2013National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources","place":["Bengaluru, Karnataka, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aarthi","family":"Nekkanti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICAR\u2013National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources","place":["Bengaluru, Karnataka, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Omprakash","family":"Navik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICAR\u2013National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources","place":["Bengaluru, Karnataka, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manjunatha T.","family":"Gowda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICAR\u2013Indian Institute of Vegetable Research","place":["Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Priyank Hanuman","family":"Mhatre","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research","place":["Nagpur, Maharashtra, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kesavan","family":"Subaharan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICAR\u2013National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources","place":["Bengaluru, Karnataka, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"265","DOI":"10.1093\/jee\/18.2.265a","article-title":"A method for computing the effectiveness of an insecticide","volume":"18","author":"Abbott","year":"1925","journal-title":"J. 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