Efficacy of Native Entomopathogenic Nematodes on the Larvae of Tomato Leafminer Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of nativeentomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs); Steinernema affine 46(Bovien, 1937), S. feltiae 879 (Filipjev, 1934), S. carpocapsae1133 (Weiser, 1955) and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora 1144(Poinar, 1976) on the larvae of tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta(Meyrick). Bioassays were conducted in the laboratory at fourdifferent temperatures (10, 15, 20 and 25±1 oC) in the plates and30 infective juveniles (IJs) were inoculated to a single T. absolutalarva for each nematode species. After nematode inoculation,larvae were checked on the 3rd, 5th, 7th days and mortalities wererecorded. All nematode species used in the study showed thelowest efficacy on the 3rd control day at 10 oC and the highestefficacy on the 7th day at 25 oC. S. feltiae 879 was found as themost efficient species with the highest mortality (91.67%) amongEPNs used in the study. The results proved that T. absoluta larvaeare highly susceptible to EPNs and the control of the pest byEPNs on this stage is successful.