Biological control of Spodoptera frugiperda in Zea mays culture: Use of entomopathogenic nematodes

Abstract

In order to determine the biological control of Spodoptera frugiperda in the cultivation of corn with entomopathogenic nematodes, it was proposed to perform tests in the greenhouses of the National Agricultural Innovation Institute (INIA) using entomopathogenic nematodes (Heterorhabditis) with four different concentrations (200, 300, 500 and 750 juvenile infectives per treatment), which allowed us to determine the mean lethal concentration (LC50-48), percentage of mortality and damage in corn plants by the cogollero. The 95% Probit analysis showed that the LC50-48 for H. bacteriophora was 182.58 Ijs / larva and for H. sp (native), it was 262.68 Ijs / larva. The Anova test and the simultaneous comparison of Tuckey found significant differences (p = 0.005) between some concentrations of the treatments, establishing that the best nematode to fight the larvae of the bud was H. bacteriophora, with the lowest percentage of damage in the plant (53.33%) and the highest mortality (84.44%) at a concentration of 750 Ijs / larva. Compared to the treatment with H. sp (native), which obtained a higher percentage of plant damage (83.33%) and the lowest mortality (46.66%) at a concentration of 200 Ijs / larva.