Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity
Vol. 27 No. 3 (2026)

Bioactivity of five invasive weed extracts against the fall armyworm pest (Spodoptera frugiperda)

SILVI IKAWATI (Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya. Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia)
MUHAMMAD CHEN CHEN (Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya. Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia)
NUR AVIVA (Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya. Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia)
DIMAS AGUNG AHMADJATI (Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya. Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia)
DUROTUN NADHIFAH (Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya. Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia)
SYIFA KAMILA ANISA DARMAWAN (Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya. Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia)
FERY ABDUL CHOLIQ (Department of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya. Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, East Java, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
13 Apr 2026

Abstract

Abstract. Ikawati S, Chen MC, Aviva N, Ahmadjati DA, Nadhifah D, Darmawan SKA, Choliq FA. 2026. Bioactivity of five invasive weed extracts against the fall armyworm pest (Spodoptera frugiperda). Biodiversitas 27 (3): d270310. https://doi.org/10.13057/biodiv/d270310. Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) or Fall Armyworm (FAW) is an invasive pest that attacks corn plants. Synthetic insecticides are commonly used for pest control but are not environmentally friendly, prompting the need for alternatives such as botanical insecticides. Sleeping grass (Mimosa pudica), nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus), Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), wild sage (Lantana camara), and goatweed (Ageratum conyzoides) are invasive weeds in agroecosystems that have the potential to be used as botanical insecticides. This study aims to determine the bioactivity of the invasive weed extracts against FAW. Methods using bioassay in the laboratory. For each type of weed extract, an experiment was carried out with five levels of extract concentration (each extract using a different range) and two controls, which were repeated four times with ten individual 3rd instar larvae of FAW per repetition. The results showed that five invasive weed extracts have the potential to be used as insecticides, caused an increase in larval mortality (>70%), decreased the feeding activity (>50%), caused weight reduction (>50%), and reduced the percentage of successful development of pupae and adults (<15%). The LC50 values from the smallest to highest at 144 h after application were for C. dactylon aerial parts extract (6%), C. rotundus tuber extract (16%), A. conyzoides leaf extract (22%), L. camara leaf extract (49%), and M. pudica leaf extract (53%). For LT50 of M. pudica at a concentration of 70%, C. rotundus at a concentration of 50%, C. dactylon at a concentration 29%, L. camara at a concentration of 60%, and A. conyzoides at a concentration of 41% were 90, 57, 73, 81, and 42 h, respectively.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

biodiv

Publisher

Subject

Agriculture, Biological Sciences & Forestry Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology

Description

The Biodiversitas Journal was first published in 2000 by the Department of Biology, FMNS, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia, then in 2006 it was co-published by the Society for Indonesian Biodiversity and that department; since 2017 it was also hosted by Smujo. From 2003-2012 it was ...