Author(s):

Babita Dhirta and Anju S Khanna

Abstract: A study on the suitability of various lepidopteran insects for the mass production of entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora was conducted in Nematology laboratory of Department of Entomology, UHF, Nauni, Solan (H.P) wherein the last instar larvae of rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton), greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (Linnaeus), silkworm, Bombyx mori (Linnaeus) and tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) were used as hosts for the mass production of test nematode. Identical inoculation doses of 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 infective juveniles (IJs) of test nematode per individual insect larva of test species were used. Among the four insects under reference, G. mellonella was found to be the most suitable host for the mass production of the H. bacteriophora, with highest production of IJs at all doses (44,673-136,790 IJs/larva), followed by silkworm larva in which 62514 and 93495 IJs/ larva at respective initial inoculum doses of 80 and 160 IJs/ larva were produced. The count of 36,708 - 64,048 IJs per S. litura larva were produced at different levels of inocula followed by C. cephalonica from which 22,117- 31,430 IJs / larva were harvested. However, despite of good yield of infective juveniles in all the test insects, G. mellonella and C. cephalonica were found to be the best for the production of this particular nematode.

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