Journal of Biological Control

123-127

Authors: KATAYOUN PAHLAVAN YALI, SHAHROKH PASHAI RAD, MEHDI ZARE KHORMIZI, ZAHRA MOJIB HAGH GHADAM, MINOO HEIDARI LATIBARI and GUY HANLY

Ladybirds beetles belonging to the family Coccinellidae, Order Coleoptera, play an important role in pest control. The aim of this research was to explore, identify and characterize the coccinellid fauna of the Mazandaran Province (Iran). Coccinellid beetles were collected during 2013- 2015 from different Agriculture Stations with a wide range of agricultural lands and plants. A total of 21 species in 15 genera and 4 subfamilies were identified. 1. Coccinella septempunctata (Linnaeus, 1758) 2. Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)* 3. Harmonia quadripunctata (Pontoppidan, 1763) * 4. Haippodemia variegate (Goeze, 1777) 5. Oenopia congolobata (Linnaeus, 1758) 6. Propyleaquatuor decempunctata (Linnaeus, 1758) 7. Adalia decempunctata (Linnaeus, 1758) 8. Vibidia duodecimguttata (Poda, 1761) * 9. Psylloboraviginti duopunctata (Linnaeus, 1758) 10. Chilocorus bipustulatus (Linnaeus, 1758) 11. Exochomus nigromaculatus (Goeze, 1777) 12. Platynaspis luteorubra (Redtenbacher, 1843)* 13. Nephusbi punctatus (Kugelann, 1794)* 14. Nephus qadrimaculatus (Herbst, 1783) 15. Scymnus subvillosus (Goeze, 1777) 16. Scymnus frontalis (Fabricius, 1787)* 17. Scymnus apetzy (Mulsant, 1846) 18. Scymnus impexus (Mulsant, 1850)* 19. Stethorus punctilum (Weise, 1891)* 20. Stethorus gilvifrons (Mulsant 1850)* 21. Serangium montazeri (Montazeri, 1994)* Nine species that are marked by *are new records for MazandaranCoccinellid fauna.

135-145

Authors: V. VELAVAN, G. SIVAKUMAR R. RANGESHWARAN, R. SUNDARARAJ and T. O. SASIDHARAN

Studies were conducted to systematically isolate Metarhizium isolates from the insect cadavers and soils of South India. Morphological and PCR amplified sequences of 5.8S ITS regions and RNA polymerase beta sub-unit1 (RPB1) gene regions were used to identify the isolates at species level. Eight Metarhizium isolates were isolated and initially identified by morphological and microscopic studies. Further identification was confirmed through 5.8SrRNA ITS and RPB1 analysis. They were identified as three isolates of M. robertsii (ArMz3R, ArMz3S and ArMz6W), one isolate of M. majus (VjMz1W) and four isolates of M. anisopliae (WnMz1S, NlMz2S, BgMz2S and DhMz4R). Topical conidial suspensions (TCS) and powder based formulations (PBF) of the eight indigenous isolates of Metarhizium spp. that were isolated from insect cadavers and soils of South India were tested against coleopteran pests Holotricha serrata L. and Oryctes rhinoceros L. that cause serious damage to sugarcane and palm trees respectively. Against H. serrata TCS of M. robertsii (ArMz6W) was the most effective with an LC₅₀ of 6.893×10⁵ cfu/ml and caused 100% mortality against the 3rd instar larvae in 5 days; PBF elicited an LC₅₀ of 7.502×10⁵ cfu/ml with 96% mortality in 10 days. Against O. rhinoceros TCS (LC₅₀ of 9.75×10⁵ cfu/ml) of M. majus (VjMz1W) caused 90% mortality in 7 days and the PBF (LC₅₀ of 9.57×10⁵ cfu/ml) caused 86% mortality in 14 days. The results establish that M. robertsii is highly effective against H. serrata and against O. rhinoceros M. majus was the most effective. The TCS formulations of these two strains can be readily deployed for field applications.

159-167

Authors: T. VENKATESAN, S. HELEN MAHIBA, S. K. JALALI, S. L. RAMYA and M. PRATIBHA

The toxic effect of commonly used insecticides in cotton fields was studied on 9 populations of Chrysoperla zastrowi sillemi (Esben-Petersen), an important predator of sucking pests collected in India. The dose mortality bioassay against 3-days old larvae was determined using three insecticides viz., endosulfan, fenvalerate and acephate by topical bioassay method. Mechanism of resistance to the above mentioned insecticides were determined without and with three metabolic inhibitors (synergists), viz., piperonyl butoxide (PBO), S,S,S-tributyl-phosphorotrithioate (DEF) and diethyl maleate (DEM). Among the populations, resistant ratios (RR) of CZS-8 was significantly higher i.e. 50.36., 66.11 and 277.51-fold for endosulfan, fenvalerate and acephate, respectively compared to susceptible population (CZS-10). The CZS-8 was selected for synergism study it showed higher LC₅₀ values and resistance ratio for all three insecticides. It showed 8.97-fold, 18.49-fold and 6.38-fold increase in synergism ratio for endosulfan indicating the resistance was strongly synergised by PBO, DEF and DEM. Similarly for fenvalerate, CZS-8 showed 8.69-fold and 3.63-fold significant increase in synergism ratio by DEF and DEM, respectively and for acephate, CZS-8 showed 54.82-fold, 150.87-fold and 113.52-fold significant increase in synergism ratio indicating that the resistance could be due to cytochrome p-450, esterase and glutathione s- transferase activity. The study indicated that the field population of C. z. sillemi developed resistance to different groups of insecticides. Among different geographical populations, CZS-8 collected from Sriganganagar, was recorded as most resistant.

172-180

Authors: D. E. KAVI NEWTON and D. JOHN CHRISTOPHER

Sheath blight and sheath rot are the major diseases of rice in Tamil Nadu particularly in Cauvery delta region. Pot culture and field trials were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of consortia application of ecofriendly components viz., Fortified Lignite Fly Ash (LFA), Annamalai Mixture and antagonistic microorganisms against the sheath blight and sheath rot diseases and yield parameters during the kuruvai and samba season of 2016. Among the different combination of ecofriendly components, combined application of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis as seed treatment@ 10g/kg of seed, soil @ 10 kg/ha at transplanting, foliar spray @ 10 kg/ha at tillering and boot leaf stage plus spraying Annamalai Mixture @ 20 lit /ha at tillering stage and boot leaf stage plus Fortified lignite fly ash as soil @ 40 kg/ha at transplanting and foliar dust @ 30 kg/ha at boot leaf stage significantly reduced sheath blight and sheath rot disease incidence in pot culture and field condition. The same treatment recorded the maximum grain yield. All the ecofriendly components treated plants significantly decreased the diseases incidence and increased the grain yield as compared to control.