Department of Nematology, B.A. College of Agriculture, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand-388 110, India.
In vitro mass production technology for entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema glaseri and one unknown species of this genus, has been developed using artificial media With this technique an average of 50,000 nematodes were produced from 1.5 cm3 polyurethane sponges incorporated with 5 ml medium. The symbiont bacteria Xenorhabdus also grew well and multiplied rapidly in the formulated medium. In vitro produced infective juveniles (IJs) of S. glaseri induced cent percent mortality of test insect, Spodoptera litura larvae under laboratory conditions. The IJs, treated with antidesiccant (5% starch solution) when applied (@ 1,00,000/m2 produced 83.8% mortality of Holotrichia consanguinea larvae on groundnut.
Entomopathogenic nematode, Holotrichia consanguinea, mass production, Spodoptera litura, Steinemema spp., Xenorhabdus sp.,
