[6] The main feature distinguishing it from other Agrotis species is the shade of the hind-wings, pure white in the males and pearly grey in the females.

[13] It is striking that the list includes such a sheer variety of plants including resinous, aromatic, and toxic species such as conifers, Eucalyptus, and Nicotiana: As with any other noctuid, assorted diseases, predators, and parasitoids attack Agrotis segetum, mainly in the egg and larval stages.

A fungus called Tarichium megaspermum (from the order Entomophthorales) has been found within the infested larvae of the turnip moth.

The fungus had killed the insects and left a finely granular mass consisting of large amounts of thick-walled spores.

[15] The insect is not believed to be present in the United States, where the government has been making efforts to prevent its introduction on imported food crops.

[16] Cultural methods such as fallowing land before sowing, to starve the larvae can be effective, and in suitable conditions, ploughing land during the dry season to kill larvae and pupae, and expose them to predators, has been effective in maize fields in South Africa.

[12] A Betabaculovirus virus species, "Agrotis segetum granulovirus DA", was first isolated in the USSR in the late 1960s, but despite some research in the 1970s, as of 2017 it has not been found to be commercially viable as a biocontrol for crops.