[en] Eleven chickpea (Cicer arietium L.) genotypes were tested against pod borer (Heliothis armigera) (Hubner) under field condition to select resistant mutants for further improvement in the mutation breeding programme of the institute. The data were recorded on the basis of percent infestation of pods per week for 4 weeks. Highly significant (P) differences were recorded in between varieties/mutants and among weeks. Three genotypes, C-141, CM-1918 and CM-1913 impaired the least insect infestations ranging from 21.28 percent to 24.44 percent as compared to a standard variety CM-72, infested up to 16.73 percent. Infestation in the other genotypes ranged between 26.31 percent to 36.68 percent. Out of resistant genotypes, the mutant CM-1918 was released as a chickpea variety with the name NIFA-88. (author)

No abstract available

[en] Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces different types of toxin that have potent and specific insecticidal activity. In recent years, Bt toxins have been used as the safe biological control agents to protect crops replacing for chemical insecticides. Bt-based biopesticides that have been commercialized as the alternative products to control pests and insects for sustainable agriculture, contain toxicity crystals and a significant number of spores that affects to the soil microflora. These uncontrollable changes may contaminate the cultivation soil, and eventually cause adverse effects to human and animal health. Therefore, the living cells and spores existing in the Bt-biopesticides should be controlled. This study evaluates the effects of gamma radiation on spore viability, germination and growth of the existing spores after spraying on the soil and the insecticidal effectiveness of a Bt-based biopesticide (VBT) agains lepidoptera larvae. We attempted to identify the optimal dose that could inactivate Bt spores but the toxicity of Bt still retain highly. The results revealed that the doseof 20 kGy is enough to control all living cells and spores in the product that consists of approximately 5.2 x 10''7 spores in the initial VBT. Though the growth of existing spores after spraying on the soil reduced by 85% or more by irradiation, their insecticidal activity against Heliothis armigera larvae reduced by 20-30% only as compared to that of the initial VBT. It suggested that gamma irradiation can be applied as useful way to control the living cells and spores existing in the commercial Bt-based bio-pesticides, and the radiation dose of 20 kGy is enough to kill all spores in VBT, but still kept its insecticidal effect for Heliothis armigera larvae. (author)

[en] This study was designed to manage insect pests of Bt cotton through the manipulation of different eco-friendly techniques. A perusal of data, based on the overall performance of different treatments reflected that lowest population of jassids (0.29) was observed in bio-control treated Bt cotton followed by bio-control treated conventional cotton (0.41). Mean per leaf population of thrips was found lowest in insecticide treated Bt cotton (0.97) which was statically at par with bi-control treated conventional cotton (0.95), biocontrol treated Bt cotton (1.09) and colour traps treated Bt cotton (1.50). In case of white flies, bio-control treated Bt cotton and bio-control treated conventional cotton again proved effective in maintaining the population at lower levels per leaf (0.33 and 0.35 respectively). No bollworms infestation was recorded in transgenic cotton whereas higher attack of the same was observed in the untreated conventional cotton block. The best results were achieved with the application of bio-control agents in combination with Bt cotton resulting in least infestation by insect pests and maximum seed yield of 3657 kg/ha. The population of Chrysoperla carnea was significantly higher in Bt and conventional cotton treated with bio-control agents as compared to the other treatments. The parasitism percentage of Trichogramma chilonis was observed significantly higher in bio-control treated conventional cotton. The studies manifested that combination of bio-control technology with Bt cotton effectively preserves the local beneficial insect fauna indicating its potential to be used as integrated management system against different insect pests of cotton. (author)

[en] Field experiments under screen cages on tomato plants of an undeterminate growth balkan cultivar led to the localization of oviposition sites of Heliothis armigera radiolabelled with sup 3 sup 2 P. Results show that females appear to have a significant preference (82 %) for oviposition on leaflets, in the upper half of the plant, and particularly on those near flowers or fruit clusters. The eggs, most of them isolated, are equally detected on the upper or lower side of leaves. Open flowers only bear 5% of the eggs whereas buds, stems and fruits are minor laying sites. A rapid egg sampling method was developed for use on integrated pest management program. (author). 19 refs., 4 tabs

[en] Effects of gamma radiation on eggs, larvae, pupae and adult stages of the cigarette beetle were studied. The LD₅₀ and LD₉₉ of gamma radiation to the eggs (7±1 days) were 327 Gy and 834 Gy respectively on the 3^rd day after irradiation. At 300 Gy the eggs were able to hatch but died in the pupal stage. None of the eggs hatched when treated with 800 Gy and other doses. The LD₅₀ and LD₉₉ to the last instar larvae (7±1 days) were 505 Gy and 1,547 Gy on the 12^th day after irradiation. The mortality of last instar larvae varied directly with the irradiation dose, no larvae could survive when irradiated at 1,500 Gy and above. At the dose lower than 1,200 Gy, some pupation was observed but no adult emergence occurred. The LD₅₀ and LD₉₉ of gamma radiation to pupae (4±1days) were 548 Gy and 1,578 Gy on the 12^th day after irradiation. The pupal mortality varied directlty with the dose. No adult emergence was obtained after irradiated at 1,500 Gy. At 300 Gy, the adults emerged with deformity and sterility. The LD₅₀ and LD₉₉ to adults (3±1 days) were 931 and 1,746 Gy respectively on the 12^th day after irradiation. The mortality of adults increased when irradiated at higher dose and none of the eggs hatched after treated adults with 300 Gy. The dosage of 300 Gy was high enough to inhibit the development of all stages. Melanization occurred in untreated young larvae after killing by freezing. Some parts of larval body became dark brown to black while the rest of the body was yellow-white or greyed-yellow. In the treated young larvae, non-melanization to slight melanization occurred at 100, 300 and 500 Gy. The degree of melanization in treated young larvae decreased with the increasing doses. In treated old larvae, the melanization increased with the increasing doses

[en] Mating competitiveness of F₁ male moth of cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera from male parents irradiated as mature pupae with normal male and normal female were studied in cages. The ratio of F₁ male : normal male: normal female proposed in this experiment were 0:1:1, 1:0:1, 1:1:1, 3:1:1 and 5:1:1. The result showed that the hatchability were 74.9, 0, 58.8, 49.6 and 37.6% respectively, the average of mating competitiveness value were 0.1-0.3. When the minimum of mating competitiveness value(0.1) was considered, the moths of F₁ male, normal male and normal female were released in the field cages at the ratio of 10:1:1, the releasing number were 100:10:10 moths per cage. The result showed that no significant difference occurred between releasing cage and non-releasing cage by t-test analysist

[en] The latent delayed toxicity for two botanical Camphore and Jamson weed grass fine dusts on Agrotis ipsilon were studied. Whereas, all the evaluated rates of Camphor grass were highly efficient and the number of alive larvae ranged between 6 and 13 larvae out of 30 larvae compared to the untreated check (28 larvae). Furthermore, the delayed results clearly indicated the significant difference between the tested rates and their effect on the raised larvae and revealed its adverse bio physiological effects on the development of both (F1) and (F2) generation that followed by a complete failure of (F3) generation, compared to the untreated check. The tested rates of Jimson weed grass fine dust caused significant reduction of the mean numbers in the surviving alive larvae of A. ipsilon and shows rapid complete failure to the development of the parent generation after larval treatment. Finally, the obtained data showed the effectiveness of the mixture of each Jimson weed with Camphor at a rate of (3:1) and (3:3) gm. fine dusts on the developmental sequence of the larvae of the parent generation that were exposed to the prepared baits. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find alternative methods to reduce the effect of chemical pesticides on the environment

[en] The pe38 gene product of Autographa californica M nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) has been shown to be involved in transcriptionally transactivating viral genes and augmenting viral DNA replication in transient assays. To assess the role of pe38 during infection, we generated a knockout virus, Δpe38-E9/E9, in which the pe38 open reading frame was replaced with that of the green fluorescent protein. We compared mutant and wild-type (WT) viral replication in insect cell culture and virulence in Heliothis virescens larvae. Compared to WT, Δpe38-E9/E9 budded virus (BV) production was delayed by at least 3 h, and BV yields were reduced over 99%. Similarly, Δpe38-E9/E9 DNA synthesis levels were greatly reduced relative to those of WT, but onset of DNA replication was the same for both viruses. In bioassays, nearly sevenfold more Δpe38-E9/E9 virus than WT virus was required to achieve an LD₅₀ when administered orally, but not hemocoelically. These results support the hypothesis that the kinetics of AcMNPV BV production greatly impact virulence in larvae infected orally (the natural route of infection) and that PE38 is an important, but not essential, factor in viral DNA synthesis and BV production

No abstract available