Key words
(English)
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Entomopathogenic nematodes; biological control; Otiorhynchus sulcatus; cold activity; faunistic survey; irrigation application; bioassay; quality control
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Research programs
(English)
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COST-Action 819 - Entomopathogenic nematodes
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Short description
(English)
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See abstract
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Further information
(English)
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Full name of research-institution/enterprise: Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Obst-, Wein- und Gartenbau FAW Departement Pflanzenschutz
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Partners and International Organizations
(English)
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A, B, CH, CZ, D, E, F, FIN, H, I, IRL, N, NL, P, PL, S, UK
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Abstract
(English)
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During COST Action 812 a first and from 1997 to 1999 a second survey of insect parasitic nematodes were made in Switzerland. In the second survey regions belonging to the lowland in Switzerland were visited. Regions in the northern plain as lower parts of some alpine valleys were included. About 750 soil samples were baited for insect parasitic nema-todes with over 1'000 lar-vae of the Greater wax moth Galleria mellonella. In 112 cases insect parasitic nematodes could be harvested from the Galleria cada-ver. They belonged to the group of Steinernema (103 strains), Heterorhabditis (7) and two genera from Rhabditidae. Almost half of all Steinernema records were represented by S. interme-dium. Other species found, ranked in decreasing fre-quency, were S. feltiae, S. kraus-sei, S. bicornutum, S. affine, S. carpo-capsae and a single record of a member of the S. glaseri group. Six strains of Heterorhabditis megidis and one of H. bacterio-phora were isolated. The association of a species to environmental factors of samples was very low for S. feltiae and H. megidis, but increased subse-quently for other species. S. intermedium and S. kraussei were recorded mainly in woodlands below trees. A selection of these strains were partially sequenced and were used to develop an new molecular system for specific identification of single juveniles. This work is still in progress. Some of these strains have a high potential to be used in biocontrol and will be an important topic of future programs. In collaboration with industry, scientific groups and experts from extension service a handbook about quality control was developed. For the first time all the relevant factors about monitoring the quality of the nematode-bacteria complex were analysed. Additionally for comparison of results from different laboratories a series of standardised experiment protocols are described. Based on these information most of the companies, that are producing nematodes for the market, have made serious adaptations in their quality control concepts. These results will have a mayor influence into future improvement of product formulation, shelf live and application procedures. More than 100 independent localities in Switzerland were sampled with Otiorhynchus species including the identification of the host plants. The analysis of these results lead to a mayor improvement for information of the extension service in private and professional horticultural production. The application of EPN by irrigation systems and the distribution of the nematodes in the field was analysed. Specially the position of openings should be at the lowest point of the tape and close to the plant stem. Unfortunately the critical water pressure for proper nematode emission is higher than the critical water pressure for dripping. We recommend to choose the highest water pressure that the irrigation system tolerates, usually values between 2 and 5 bars. At the moment 21 different products with zooparasitic nematodes are on the Swiss market. The main target is still the Black Vine Weevil (Otiorhynchus sp.) in home gardens, nurseries and strawberries, but also Sciarids in glass house ornamentals ans slug control in horticulture. There is one company that is successfully mass rearing EPN's (Andermatt Biocontrol AG), the nematodes are distributed by 11 companies.
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References in databases
(English)
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Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. +41 31 322 74 82 Swiss Project-Number: C96.0067
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