| Autor: |
Husain M; Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia., Rasool KG; Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia., Sutanto KD; Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia., Omer AO; Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia., Tufail M; Department of Plant Protection, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan 3200, Pakistan., Aldawood AS; Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. |
| Abstrakt: |
The red palm weevil (RPW) is a significant threat to date palms. Conventional pest control has been ineffective. This study aims to evaluate entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) indigenous to Saudi Arabia and commercial against RPW. We used 33 soil samples collected from four areas of Saudi Arabia. The indigenous EPNs were isolated and cultured using an insect baiting method to obtain infective juveniles. Pathogenicity bioassays were conducted against different stages of RPW, including eggs, larvae, and adults. The bioassay was performed using all the isolates at 1 × 10 6 IJ/mL. Distilled water was used as a control. The results revealed that only 9.09% of soil samples contained positive EPNs. Through DNA sequencing analysis, the positive samples were identified as indigenous isolates belonging to Heterorhabditis indica and Steinernema carpocapsae EPN species. In pathogenicity tests, 90% mortality of RPW eggs was observed after five days. Similar mortality trends were seen in RPW larvae and adults, with 90% mortality recorded after ten days for all the EPN treatments. Mortality increased with the duration of post-EPN inoculation exposure. The 1 × 10 6 IJ/mL concentrations of EPN effectively killed various stages of RPW in the laboratory. More research is needed to test EPNs against RPW in the field. |
