Management of American serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii using entomopathogenic nematodes

Pot culture and field evaluations were carried out at the Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara during 2011-2013 to assess the efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) against leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess). Pot culture study was conducted to compare the potential of soil isolated EPNs, Steinernema carpocapsae Isolate-1, 2, 3 and 4 with other treatments, viz., Azadiractin1 EC at 0.005%, Beauveria bassiana at 1×10⁷spores/ ml. Azadirachtin 1 EC at 0.005% was observed as the most effective and caused 84.51 per cent mortality to the maggots of L. trifolii. This was followed by the foliar application of Heterorhabditis indica at 32 infective juveniles (IJs)/ maggot, which caused 18.98 per cent mortality. Application of B. bassiana was not found to be effective. In the field evaluation, fipronil 5 SC at 0.002% was found to be the best treatment for the management of L. trifolii followed by azadirachtin 1 EC at 0.005%.