Naturally-occurring biological control of the boll weevil [Col.: Curculionidae]

Entomophaga ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. L. Sterling ◽  
D. A. Dean ◽  
D. A. Fillman ◽  
D. Jones
2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sardul Singh Sandhu ◽  
Anil K. Sharma ◽  
Vikas Beniwal ◽  
Gunjan Goel ◽  
Priya Batra ◽  
...  

The growing demand for reducing chemical inputs in agriculture and increased resistance to insecticides have provided great impetus to the development of alternative forms of insect-pest control. Myco-biocontrol offers an attractive alternative to the use of chemical pesticides. Myco-biocontrol agents are naturally occurring organisms which are perceived as less damaging to the environment. Their mode of action appears little complex which makes it highly unlikely that resistance could be developed to a biopesticide. Past research has shown some promise of the use of fungi as a selective pesticide. The current paper updates us about the recent progress in the field of myco-biocontrol of insect pests and their possible mechanism of action to further enhance our understanding about the biological control of insect pests.


2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 729-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Mónaco ◽  
G. Dal Bello ◽  
M. C. Rollán ◽  
L. Ronco ◽  
G. Lampugnani ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 470-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos M. Raaijmakers ◽  
Robert F. Bonsall ◽  
David M. Weller

The role of antibiotics in biological control of soilborne pathogens, and more generally in microbial antagonism in natural disease-suppressive soils, often has been questioned because of the indirect nature of the supporting evidence. In this study, a protocol for high pressure liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry is described that allowed specific identification and quantitation of the antibiotic 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (Phl) produced by naturally occurring fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. on roots of wheat grown in a soil suppressive to take-all of wheat. These results provide, for the first time, biochemical support for the conclusion of previous work that Phl-producing fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. are key components of the natural biological control that operates in take-all—suppressive soils in Washington State. This study also demonstrates that the total amount of Phl produced on roots of wheat by P. fluorescens strain Q2-87, at densities ranging from approximately 105 to 107 CFU/g of root, is proportional to its rhizosphere population density and that Phl production per population unit is a constant (0.62 ng/105 CFU). Thus, Phl production in the rhizosphere of wheat is strongly related to the ability of the introduced strain to colonize the roots.


2019 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 2142-2148
Author(s):  
Jun-Ce Tian ◽  
Yang Chen ◽  
Anthony M Shelton ◽  
Xu-Song Zheng ◽  
Hong-Xing Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract Most adult parasitoids depend on carbohydrate-rich food as an energy source for longevity, fecundity, and mobility. Thus, providing sugars has been proposed as a technique to maximize the biological control efficacy of parasitoids. However, the sugars provided for parasitoids need to be carefully selected because herbivore hosts might also benefit. Here we explore the effects of 12 naturally occurring sugars on the longevity and fecundity of the rice pest, Chilo suppressalis, and the longevity of its parasitoid, Cotesia chilonis, as well as the effect of sugars on sugar consumption of C. chilonis. Results showed that none of the tested sugars significantly impacted the longevity of C. suppressalis, but fructose, glucose, maltose, and sucrose significantly increased its fecundity. The longevity of C. chilonis was significantly increased when fed fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, trehalose, and melezitose. Our data suggest that C. chilonis consumed larger quantities of glucose, fructose, and sucrose followed by maltose, melezitose, and trehalose and the longevity of C. chilonis was positively correlated to sugar consumption. Our data also suggest that the herbivore C. suppressalis and its parasitoid C. chilonis responded differently to trehalose and melezitose. Although additional studies are needed, our data suggest that these sugars could be considered as candidate components for sugar sprays to enhance the activity and efficacy of C. chilonis, but without benefiting its pest host.


2000 ◽  
Vol 132 (5) ◽  
pp. 655-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Schmaedick ◽  
Anthony M. Shelton

AbstractWe used three sampling methods to identify the arthropod predators most abundant and active in fields of cabbage, Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata, and determined those most likely to be important predators of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae L., by testing the predators’ abilities to forage on cabbage plants and to feed on Pieris rapae in small arenas in the laboratory. Abundance and activity in the field were monitored with pitfall traps, sticky traps applied directly to leaves, and plant samples. Four criteria were used to assess the species’ potential value as a predator of Pieris rapae in cabbage: relatively high overall abundance in trap catches and plant samples, occurrence on plant foliage in the field, a high propensity to feed on Pieris rapae eggs and first instars, and the ability to search for larval Pieris rapae on cabbage plants. Four species, the wolf spider Pardosa milvina (Hentz) (Araneae: Lycosidae), the harvestman Phalangium opilio L. (Opiliones: Phalangiidae), and the lady beetles Coleomegilla maculata lengi Timberlake and Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), demonstrated these attributes, although all four species appeared unable to search for prey on some parts of the cabbage plants, owing to unsure footing on the plants’ slippery cuticular wax. Linyphiids (Araneae) and syrphids (Diptera), the most abundant taxa in the plant samples, may prove better at thoroughly searching cabbage plants, but remain to be tested in future laboratory trials. Our results show that only a small portion of the predatory arthropod species that occur in cabbage fields is likely to prey on Pieris rapae on the plants, although important questions remain about the roles of some taxa. Future efforts to enhance biological control of Pieris rapae by naturally occurring predators can now focus on further elucidating and finding ways to enhance the roles of those predators that are effective.


1998 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.M. Heinz

AbstractAn often encountered problem associated with augmentative and inundative biological control programmes is the high cost of producing sufficient numbers of natural enemies necessary to suppress pest populations within the time constraints imposed by ephemeral agroecosystems. In many arrhenotokous parasitoids, overproduction of males in mass-rearing cultures inflates costs (per female) and thus limits the economic feasibility of these biological control programmes. Within the context of existing production technologies, experiments were conducted to determine if the sex ratio ofCatolaccus grandis(Burks), an ectoparasitoid of the boll weevilAnthonomous grandisBoheman, varied as a function of boll weevil larval size. Results from natural and manipulative experiments demonstrate the following behavioural characteristics associated with C.grandissex allocation behaviour: (i) femaleC. grandisoffspring are produced on large size hosts and male offspring are produced on small hosts; (ii) whether a host is considered large or small depends upon the overall distribution of host sizes encountered by a female parasitoid; and (iii) female parasitoids exhibit a greater rate of increase in body size with host size than do male parasitoids. The observed patterns cannot be explained by sex-specific mortality of immature parasitoids developing on the different host size categories. In subsequent experiments, laboratory cultures ofC. grandisexposed daily to successively larger sizes ofA. grandislarvae produced successively greater female biased offspring sex ratios, cultures exposed daily to successively smaller sizes of host larvae produced successively greater male biased offspring sex ratios, and cultures exposed daily to equivalent host size distributions over time maintained a uniform offspring sex ratio. By increasing the average size ofA. grandislarval hosts exposed toC. grandisby 2.5 mg per day in mass rearing cultures, the percentage of male progeny can be reduced from 33% to 23% over a period of four consecutive exposure days.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document