Virulence of four entomopathogenic nematode species for plum sawfly, Hoplocampa flava L. (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae)

Abstract

The yellow sawfly Hoplocampa flava is an important pest of plum all around the world. Larvae feed on the seed with damaged fruit falling prematurely. There are many studies on the control of other pests with entomopathogenic nematode (EPN), but few on the control of plum sawfly. The present study was conducted to determine virulence of four EPN species: Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, H. marelatus, Steinernema carpocapsae Tur-S4 and S. feltiae Tur-S3 against plum sawfly Hoplocampa flava L. (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) under laboratory conditions. For each nematode species, six different doses (3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20 Infective Juveniles (IJs) /larva) were applied against last instar larvae of H. flava. Assays were done in 24 well tissue culture plates filled with 10 % (w/v) moist silver sand. The most virulent species was H. bacteriophora which had LD50 and LD90 values of 6.51 and 15.46 IJs, respectively. The least virulent was S. carpocapsae Tur-S4 with LD50 and LD90 values of 16.617 and 33.779 IJs, respectively.