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Biological control potentials of insect-parasitic nematode Rhabditis blumi (Nematoda: Rhabditida) for major cruciferous vegetable insect pests

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Abstract

Pathogenicity of Rhabditis blumi Sudhaus against major cruciferous insect pests was evaluated in the lab and greenhouse. In Petri-dish tests against the insects, including Artogeia rapae L., Mamestra brassicae L., and Plutella xylostella L., insect mortality by R. blumi and its associated bacteria was dose and time dependent, which increased with dose (0–80 dauer juveniles/larva) and time increments. Pathogenicity against fourth-instar larvae was higher than the rate of corresponding third-instar larvae. The highest insect mortality rate was observed in fourth-instar larvae of P. xylostella, followed by A. rapae, and M. brassicae, with mortality rates of 93.5, 88.2, and 77.8 %, respectively. Lethal dose values at 50 % (LD50) of R. blumi were 25.7 dauer juveniles/larva on P. xylostella; 28.0 dauer juveniles/larva on A. rapae; and 40.6 dauer juveniles/larva on M. brassicae, respectively. In greenhouse tests, P. xylostella larvae were most susceptible to nematodes, with insect reduction rate of 88.0 %. The rate varied with vegetable species and persistence time of live nematodes on vegetable leaves after spraying. Nematodes established in cadavers showed positive correlation with nematode dose, whereas nematode persistence on the leaf was inversely related to hours after treatment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Dong-Ro Choi (Director general, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, South Korea) for his great assistance, and Dr. John Chitambar (Senior plant nematologist, California Department of Food and Agriculture, USA) for his help in identifying nematode species. This work was partly supported by the Korea Student Aid Foundation (KOSAF) Grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (No. S2-2007-000-00908-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

    Hae Woong Park, Sung Hun Youn, Taek Su Shin & Chul Soo Shin

  2. Horticultural and Herbal Crop Environment Division, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Suwon, South Korea

    Hae Woong Park, Hyeong Hwan Kim & Myoung Rae Cho

  3. Department of Mosquito Control, Cape May Court House, NJ, 08210, USA

    Anwar L. Bilgrami

  4. Chair of Advanced Proteomics and Cytomics Research, Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Anwar L. Bilgrami

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  1. Hae Woong Park
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Correspondence to Chul Soo Shin.

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Park, H.W., Kim, H.H., Youn, S.H. et al. Biological control potentials of insect-parasitic nematode Rhabditis blumi (Nematoda: Rhabditida) for major cruciferous vegetable insect pests. Appl Entomol Zool 47, 389–397 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-012-0131-9

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