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 % (LD
50
) 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.