Larval surveillance is the central approach for monitoring dengue vector populations in Indonesia. However, traditional larval indices are ineffective for measuring mosquito population dynamics and predicting the dengue transmission risk. We conducted a 14-month ovitrap surveillance. Eggs and immature mosquitoes were collected on a weekly basis from an urban village of Bandung, namely Sekejati. Ovitrap-related indices, namely positive house index (PHI), ovitrap index (OI), and ovitrap density index (ODI), were generated and correlated with environmental variables, housing type (terraced or high-density housing), ovitrap placement location (indoor or outdoor; household or public place), and local dengue cases. Our results demonstrated that Aedes aegypti was significantly predominant compared with Aedes albopictus at each housing type and ovitrap placement location. Ovitrap placement locations and rainfall were the major factors contributing to variations in PHI, OI, and ODI, whereas the influences of housing type and temperature were subtle. Indoor site values were significantly positively correlated to outdoor sites’ values for both OI and ODI. OI and ODI values from households were best predicted with those from public places at 1- and 0-week lags, respectively. Weekly rainfall values at 4- and 3-week lags were the best predictors of OI and ODI for households and public places, respectively. Monthly mean PHI, OI, and ODI were significantly associated with local dengue cases. In conclusion, ovitrap may be an effective tool for monitoring the population dynamics of Aedes mosquitoes, predicting dengue outbreaks, and serving as an early indicator to initiate environmental clean-up. Ovitrap surveillance is easy for surveyors if they are tasked with a certain number of ovitraps at a designated area, unlike the existing larval surveillance methodology, which entails identifying potential breeding sites largely at the surveyors’ discretion. Ovitrap surveillance may reduce the influence of individual effort in larval surveillance that likely causes inconsistency in results.

Farmers’ satisfaction with new superior varieties (NSVs) is a critical strategy for boosting their adoption. Out of 48 national NSV hybrids produced, only three, including Nasa-29, JH-37, and Bima-10, have been widely distributed at the farmer level. However, no studies have been carried out to establish farmers’ satisfaction of any of the three hybrid maize varieties. As a result, the main aim of this study is to establish farmers’ satisfaction of three-hybrid maize. The survey was conducted in three South Sulawesi maize production districts: Bone, Gowa, and North Luwu, representing the east, west, and transitional zones. A total of 150 farmers from three districts were then deliberately chosen as respondents. Variables such as seed availability, cultivation technology, post-harvest, and product marketing were monitored during our assessment. The data were then analyzed using the importance performance analysis (IPA) method. The findings indicate that seed quality and quantity, disease resistance, low yield, and productivity are the variables that require intervention to improve farmer satisfaction with the superiority of the national hybrid maize NSV. The low price of seeds, the ability to grow at 15 days, the small size of the cob, ease of harvest, and the accessibility of marketing the product at the best price were then deemed adequate variables.

In tropical climates, Sitophilus zeamais Motsch is the main pest of maize, often found when the plants are still in the field or storage warehouses. Damage to the products or stored materials has a significant effect on the economic value because 1) the materials are ready for consumption and 2) the materials have cost a lot of money from the seeding, tillage, planting, maintenance, to the harvesting stage. Thus, slight damage to the stored materials due to the pests can cause significant losses compared to attacks by other plant-disturbing organisms. Moreover, attacks from these insects will reduce the quality and quantity of materials, such as changes in color, taste, and unpleasant odor, and even cause contamination of diseases carried by these organisms such as aflatoxins and a decrease in nutritional quality, seed weight, and percentage of germination, which in turn will reduce the market value. In many literatures, it is stated that the quantity of S. zeamais Motsch attacks ranges from 26 to 29% and even reaches above 30%. In South Sulawesi, the damage has reached 85%, which can reduce the quantity of materials by up to 17%. If the moisture content of the stored material is high enough, between 18 - 20%, the attack rate of these pests will also be higher. This condition can cause damage between 30 - 40% with a weight loss of 12.65 - 21.54%. This paper discusses a closer introduction to the insect pest S zeamais Motsch, which includes the role of this pest in damaging agricultural products and its impacts and the biological, morphological, and ecological attributes of insects. The authors hope that this information can be useful in information technology about insects.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the combination of Bacillus subtilis TM3 formulation with botanical pesticides in suppressing Fusarium verticilloides infection in corn. The research was carried out at the Plant Pathology Laboratory and the Experimental Farm of Indonesian Cereals Research Institute (ICERI) from February to November 2019. The research consisted of two stages, namely an in vitro test of antagonists of botanical pesticides against F. verticilloides using 5 types of plant extracts namely betel leaf extract, turmeric, galangal, cosmos, and clove leaf. The second stage was to test the effectiveness of the combination of the formulation of B. subtilis TM3 with the best 3 types of plant extracts in vitro testing in suppressing F. verticilloides infection in plants. The results of the in vitro study showed that the plant extracts of betel leaf, clove leaf and galangal had the best inhibitory ability on the mycelia growth of F. verticilloides . Meanwhile, the field test found that the application of the B. subtilis TM3 formulation, either alone or in combination with plant extracts, was able to suppress F. verticilloides infection. The combination of B. subtilis TM3 formulation with betel leaf extract showed the best inhibition of 20% against stem rot disease and 13.33% against corn cob rot. This treatment did not affect production quantitatively, but was able to suppress the decline in seed quality due to F. verticilloides infection. Seeds grown by the Plastic Rolled Paper Test (PRPT) method were not only infected with F. verticilloides , but also infected with other seed-borne pathogens, such as Aspergillus niger and A. falvus . The presence of these two pathogens did not inhibit the growth of F. verticilloides in kernels.

The study of infection variations of the cob rot disease caused by Fusarium verticillioides on the hybrid maize line Filial 1(F1) aimed to determine the variation of infection of corn cob rot disease caused by F. verticillioides. This research was carried out in Sinoa District, Bantaeng Regency from November 2020 to February 2021. Research design used was randomized Block Design with 3 replications. The treatment were Filial line (F1) of 6 lines (D71, D72, D73, D74, BMD75, D76) and 4 commercial varieties Indonesia (Pioner 36, BISI 2, BISI 18, P36, and NK22). Bisi 2 was used as susceptible check variety and NK 22 as a resistant check. The response of lines D71, D72, D74 and D75, were classified moderately resistant to cob rot disease F. v erticilliodies, infected with 30.66%, 32.66%, 33.33% and 28.00%, respectively. Strains D73 and D76, classified as susceptible (47.33% and 46.66%). BISI 2 was very susceptible (62.33% and 63.66%) and NK 22 was resistant (13.33%-14.00%) The variable of infected cobs showed D71, D72, D74 and D75 (27.53%-32.13%) significantly lower compared D73 and D76 (52.56%-44.76). %). Susceptible varieties Bisi 2 (63.06%-62.43%). Asymptomatic seeds (asymptomatic) can achieve internal infection of F. Verticilliodies seeds, ranging from 14.00%-16.33%.