Effect of Different Soils on Pheromone-Enhanced Movement of Entomopathogenic Nematodes
Categoria dell'articolo: Research Paper
Pubblicato online: 29 mar 2025
Ricevuto: 02 gen 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jofnem-2025-0009
Parole chiave
© 2025 Sehrish Gulzar et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) have a specialized infective juvenile stage (IJ) that is mobile and has the capability to seek insect hosts to penetrate their haemocoel. EPNs are primarily applied to soil as biological control agents; thus, the IJs must move through the soil to find and infect a host. Soil characteristics are known to be an important factor that can affect the efficiency of EPN movement behavior. Previous research has shown that exposure to ascaroside pheromones can enhance EPN movement and infectivity in soil. The ability of pheromones to enhance EPN efficacy was recently demonstrated under field conditions in a pecan orchard. However, prior to our research, it was unknown whether different soils have differential effects on pheromone enhanced EPN efficacy. In different soils, we tested the biocontrol efficacy of