Sessions

29th IWGO Conference
28 to 30 October 2025, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Scientific Sessions

• Scientific Session 1: "Delaying Bt resistance"

  Full Title: Recent research and extension efforts in North America to delay Bt resistance in maize pests

  Session Organizers: Dominic Reisig, North Carolina State University, Plymouth, NC, USA
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  Abstract: Since the commercial introduction of Bt maize in Brazil, Canada, the Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and the U.S., substantial research has focused on resistance monitoring and detection. Over the years, multiple cases of Bt resistance have been documented in key maize pests, including Diabrotica barberi, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, Diatraea grandiosella, Helicoverpa zea, Ostrinia nubilalis, and Spodoptera frugiperda. As resistance challenges continue to emerge, researchers and extension specialists are working to develop and implement strategies to mitigate further resistance and sustain the efficacy of Bt maize. This session will highlight recent advances in resistance management, including monitoring approaches, resistance mitigation strategies, and extension efforts aimed at preserving Bt for future use.

• Scientific Session 2: "Insect resistance maize for food security"

  Full Title: Pre-breeding and breeding for resistance to key lepidopteran pests, improved yield and yield-related traits.

  Session Organizers: Chapwa Kasoma, CABI, Lusaka, Zambia, Prince Matova, Mukushi Seeds Ltd., Harare, Zimbabwe & Juliana Cheboi, University of Nairobi, Kenya
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  Abstract: The goal of this session on maize breeding is to foster the implementation of demand-led breeding initiatives that address the adverse impacts of key maize pests while integrating farmer-preferred traits. The session will highlight the pests of economic importance in tropical and sub-tropical maize growing regions. It will bring to underscore the current progress in maize breeding, the challenges, gaps and future directions. Additionally, following a gender responsive approach, this session will link breeders and other biological scientists working on diverse maize insect pests, enabling the design and deployment of adaptable Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. These strategies are important for maize breeding and production in tropical and subtropical regions where maize is the mainstay of the population.

• Scientific Session 3: "IPM for maize piercing-sucking insects"

  Full Title: Bridging research and practice: IPM for piercing-sucking insects in maize systems

  Session Organizers: Md Tafsir Nur Nabi Rashed, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA & Amanda C. Hodges, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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  Abstract: Piercing-sucking insects—including aphids, stink bugs, leafhoppers, and planthoppers—are increasingly significant pests in maize systems across the globe. These insects not only cause direct damage but also act as vectors of viral diseases and interact with other maize pests, making them important yet often overlooked components of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies. The goal of this session is to bring together international researchers, extension specialists, and IPM practitioners to explore up-to-date research and practical strategies for managing piercing-sucking insect pests in maize. It will highlight advances in ecology, pest dynamics, and biocontrol, and will emphasize the integration of research with extension programming and on-the-ground implementation through farmer-participatory and adaptive IPM approaches. By combining perspectives from both research and extension, this session aims to promote innovative, scalable, and resilient IPM frameworks that are globally relevant yet adaptable to local production systems. A particular emphasis will be placed on co-designed solutions, success stories from the field, and new strategies for monitoring and managing sap-feeding pests through biological control, cultural practices, and decision-support tools. This session supports the mission of the 29th IWGO Conference to address a broad range of maize insect pest challenges beyond fall armyworm, with emphasis on non-chemical control, biological control, and systems-based approaches. Expanding the conversation beyond Lepidopteran pests contributes to IWGO’s goal of fostering international, inclusive, and interdisciplinary collaboration toward sustainable and resilient maize pest management.

• Scientific Session 4: "Digital techniques for biological control of maize pests"

  Full Title: Biological control of maize insect pests in the digital era

  Session Organizers: Feng Zhang, CABI, Beijing, China & Zheng Li, Institute of Plant Protection, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, China
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  Abstract: Despite some great successes, the uptake of biological control worldwide is still limited compared with chemical control, and uptake is particularly poor in most developing countries. However, digital techniques would be a game changer to foster adoption and uptake of biological control innovations at a large scale. This session will focus on the novel application of digital techniques in biological control of maize insect pests, such as drones for field application of biocontrol agents, improved efficacy of biopesticides via better modelling of accurate timing of application, ICT-based extension approaches to improve the uptake of biological control, etc.

• Scientific Session 5: "Biological control of FAW"

  Full Title: Progresses in biological control of fall armyworm worldwide

  Session Organizers: Marc Kenis, CABI, Delémont, Switzerland
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  Abstract: The goal of the session(s) will be to provide new information on biological control methods that are presently being used or developed against fall armyworm worldwide. It will cover classical biological control through the introduction of natural enemies from the native range of FAW, augmentative biological control with arthropods, nematodes and pathogens (biopesticides) and conservation biological control. It will also include approaches to integrate biological control into IPM packages.

• Scientific Session 6: "Sustainable management of FAW"

  Full Title: Sustainable management of fall armyworm in smallholder farming systems

  Session Organizers: Alison Watson, ASEAN FAW Action Plan Secretariat, Singapore; Tiantao Zhang, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China & Feng Zhang, CABI, Beijing, China
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  Abstract: In recent years, fall armyworm has spread rapidly across Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific causing significant impact on yields, livelihoods and the environment through increased pesticide use. This session will focus on solutions and approaches for sustainable management of fall armyworm in developing countries, particularly Asia, with insights shared and opportunities for discussion on genomics, monitoring, integrated pest management, and collaboration opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Scientific Session 7: "IPM packages for maize pests"

  Full Title: Integrated pest management tools and packages for maize pests

  Session Organizers: Stefan Toepfer, CABI, Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary & Xun Yan, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China
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  Abstract: Maize pests are serious problems in most world regions. Many of them are invasives, such as corn borers in North America, the fall armyworm in Asia, Africa and Europe, the rootworms in Europe, and the bollworm in numerous regions This has led to an increased use of synthetic pesticides in the maize agro-ecosystem. A switch to biological control has been partly successful, but is often challenged by the fact that maize is not a cash crop and therefore farmers have less budget available than farmers in other crops. Therefore, a combination of pest management options in an IPM package is often applied. However, each region has its specific agro-ecological and socio-economic characteristics, as well as regulatory framework. We aim to organise a session presenting and discussing the different approaches of IPM of maize pests in the different regions. Where existing, regional or national IPM packages will be presented, aiming at learning from each other.

• Scientific Session 8: "Free themes"

  Full Title: Free themes

  Session Organizers: Ulli Kuhlmann, CABI, Delémont, Switzerland
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  Abstract: Session is required to allow placement of talks submitted which are not fitting in the proposed sessions 1 to 7.