In Vitro Efficacy of Entomopathogenic Nematodes (EPNS) against Economically Important Insect-Pests of Cauliflower

Cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus), Tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) and Plusia orichalcea (Fabricius) causes considerable yield loss in economically important crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, cotton, tobacco, castor, and pulses etc. The nation has been using more pesticides to combat these insects, which has increased environmental pollution, pesticide resistance, pest resurgence, and residue in food, soil, and water. The present study was assessed to susceptibility of P. brassicae, S. litura and P. orichalcea to entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), Metarhabditis amsactae and mass multiplication of infective juveniles (IJs) in all three insects. Two strains, HAR-St-II and HAR-Ht-III of M. amsactae were tested against all three insects, at four inoculum levels i.e. 5, 10, 20 and 40 IJs /insect larva, under laboratory conditions at Department of Nematology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during 2021-2022. Results revealed that in both the strains of M. amsactae, as the observation time and level of IJs increased, there was a significant increase in per cent mortality of all three insects. Observation on recovery of M. amsactae was less from cadaver of P. orichalcea than P. brassicae and S. litura.