Bioefficacy of Entomopathogenic Nematodes (EPNs) Steinernema carpocapsae (Weis.) and Heterorhabditis indica (Poinar) against Spodoptera litura (Fab.)

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Date
2006
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ACHARYA N.G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD
Abstract
The present investigation entitled ‘Bioefficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) Steinernema carpocapsae (Weis.) and Heterorhabditis indica (Poinar) against Spodoptera litura (Fab.)’ was undertaken in the Department of Entomology, Agricultural College, Bapatla during 2005-06. The bioefficacy studies were carried out against third instar larvae and three day old pupae of S. litura in soil column assay using sand, red and black soils. The role of antidesiccants in extending the pathogenicity of the test EPNs was also evaluated. The median lethal concentrations (LC50s) of H. indica (10.8, 13.8, 23.8 and 15.7 IJs / larva) were lower than those of S. carpocapsae (13.8, 15.9, 28.8 and 19.4 IJs / larva) in sand, red and black soils at 10% moisture and also at 15% moisture in black soil, respectively after 48 h of post infection in third instar larvae of S. litura. The pathogenicity of H. indica was quicker with lower median lethal times (LT50s) (55.9-31.8, 66.3-33.1, 80.7-31.6 and 81.0-31.1 h) compared to S. carpocapsae (64.2-33.2, 69.3-35.5, 83.5-32.8 and 86.6-35.4 h) in the dosage range of 5-30 IJs / larva in sand and red soils, 10-50 IJs / larva in black soil at 10% moisture and 5-35 IJs / larva in black soil at 15% moisture, respectively. H. indica resulted in higher per cent cumulative larval mortalities of S. litura (78.3-100.0 at 72 h, 36.7-100.0 at 60 h, 40.0-96.7 at 96 h and 60.0- 100.0 at 96 h) compared to those of S. carpocapsae (65.0-100.0 at 72 h, 23.4-100.0 at 60 h, 36.7-91.7 at 96 h and 55.0-100.0 at 96 h) in sand, red and black soils at 10% moisture and black soil at 15% moisture, respectively with the dosage range of 5-30 IJs / larva. Feeding inhibition in H. indica infected larvae (51.0-90.3, 40.2-85.5, 14.2-55.3 and 31.0-71.9%) was more than that of S. carpocapsae (41.8-88.4, 35.2-79.6, 8.8-48.7 and 22.2-62.6%) at the dosage range of 5-30 IJs / larva in the corresponding test soils. Similarly, the per cent reduction in weight gain of the infected larvae was higher with H. indica (61.2-92.7, 47.0-91.1, 21.8-66.2 and 35.1-82.3) compared to that of S. carpocapsae (53.4-91.0, 42.7-85.6, 17.5-56.2 and 26.5-65.6) in the respective soils and dosages. There is significant increase in larval mortality, feeding inhibition and weight reduction of the infected larvae with increase in dosages of the test EPNs and interval of observation i.e., 24-72 h in sand and red soil or upto 96 h in black soil. Even against pupae, H. indica was more pathogenic with its lower LC50s (78.3, 83.2, 113.1 and 91.6 IJs / pupa) compared to those of S. carpocapsae (99.7, 103.7, 130.8 and 103.0 IJs / pupa) in sand, red and black soils at 10% moisture and at 15% moisture in black soil, respectively after 96 h of post infection. The LT50s of H. indica against pupae were also lower (85.3-43.7, 86.2- 45.7, 139.2-61.7 and 107.4-50.2 h) compared to those of S. carpocapsae (102.9-48.4, 108.6-53.6, 144.9-68.0 and 125.2-51.5 h) in the respective test soils at the dosages of 90-180 IJs / pupa. The per cent reduction in adult emergence from the infected pupae increased with increase in dosage (30-180 IJs / pupa) of S. carpocapsae (44.8-93.0, 32.2-92.8, 14.1-78.3 and 28.5-90.0) and H. indica (51.9-96.7, 39.3-92.6, 28.5-89.6 and 35.5-92.6) in the mentioned test soils, but without any significant difference between the two EPNs. The per cent increase in larval mortality of third instar larvae of S. litura over untreated check due to the use of antidesiccants was higher with glycerin (11.2-64.3 and 15.6-75.3), followed by liquid paraffin (5.6-63.7 and 13.3-70.9) and Triton X 100 (5.6-52.5 and 8.3-63.8) at 24-48 h of incubation prior to larval treatment with S. carpocapsae and H. indica, respectively in all the test soils. The pathogenic effects of the test EPNs were better in sandy soil followed by red soil both at 10% moisture, black soil at 15% moisture and at 10% moisture.
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Bioefficacy, Entomopathogenic, Nematodes, Steinernema, carpocapsae, Heterorhabditis, indica, against, Spodoptera, litura
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