Studies and application of sex pheromone production in beet armyworm,Spodoptera exigua

The beet armyworm, Spodeptera exigua (Hubner), has become a persistent pest of crop in China. It is very difficult to control once established because of its tolerance to insecticides and its location deep in the plant canopy. The major pheromone components and their activities, the more effective pheromone blend, the formulations of lures and the types of traps for the beet armyworm are reviewed. Many research results showed that sex pheromone would be more effective to monitor and survey the beet armyworm by improving present technologies and applying them in practices, and has great potential for managing this insect species by mating disruption and mass trapping.