Armyworm -Rice armyworm, paddy armyworm, rice ear-cutting caterpillar

control: Parasitoids such as tachinids, ichneumonids, eulophids, chalcids, and braconid wasps parasitize this pest. Meadow grasshoppers, ants, birds and toads feed on the pest. Fungal diseases and a nuclear polyhedrosis virus also infect the larvae.

Chemical control may be needed when populations are extremely high. Pyrethroids can often kill the larvae but can also cause development of secondary pests, such as the brown planthopper.

symptoms:

• cutting off leaf tips, leaf margins, leaves and even the plants at the base
• cutting off rice panicles from the base
  The rice armyworm is present in all stages of the rice crop. It becomes very destructive when the population is high that it can totally devour the host plant. Mature panicles are cut off from the base of the plants.