Pot Experiment Data for Fall Armyworm Control in Maize Using Rice Husk Biochar

Pot experiments with 6 replications and 5-6 treatments were conducted in greenhouses in Antananarivo, Madagascar and St-Pierre, Réunion in 2023 and 2025. The dataset, authored by Alain Ratnadass of CIRAD, includes observations on maize plant biomass, silicon and nitrogen content, leaf electrochemical parameters, and leaf damage, as well as measurements of fall armyworm larvae head capsule widths and weights.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between soil biochar amendments and pest damage based on percent leaf disk damage observations.
• Analyzing the correlation between leaf electrochemical parameters (pH, redox potential, conductivity) and plant health metrics.
• Predicting pest larval development based on head capsule width and individual weight measurements after infestation.
• Evaluating the impact of silicon and nitrogen content in maize plants on resistance to fall armyworm.

Strengths

• Experimental design includes 6 replications, which may improve statistical reliability.
• Data covers two distinct geographic locations (Madagascar and Réunion) and two years (2023, 2025), providing environmental variation.
• Includes multi-faceted observations on both plants (biomass, chemistry, electrochemistry) and pests (morphology, weight).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.

Provenance

Source

CIRAD Harvested Collection, authored by Alain Ratnadass.

Collection Method

Report of pot experiments conducted in greenhouses in randomized complete block designs with artificial infestation.

Time Range

2023 and 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 15:42:57; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Antananarivo, Madagascar and St-Pierre, Réunion.