Control of mahogany shoot borer, Hypsipyla grandella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), with Bacillus thuringiensis in a systemic way

Abstract

Hypsipyla grandella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), popularly known as the mahogany borer, is the main pest of Swietenia macrophylla (Meliaceae), limiting the commercial planting of the species throughout Brazil. The use of the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacterium for the control of insect pests is becoming a promising tool to be incorporated into integrated pest management programs for various agricultural and forest pests. To date, no in-depth studies on the use of Bt for control of H. grandella have been conducted. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the systemic use of Bt in mahogany seedlings for insect control. The results demonstrated that plants treated with the S1905 strain showed a decelerated attack compared with the control, with little apparent damage or symptoms. This work is an early effort in the systemic use of Bt in seedlings of tree species and the method seems to offer a promising and viable alternative to the use of chemical insecticides.