Efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae) on developmental stages of house fly, Musca domestica

• Published in: Journal of parasitic diseases Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 782 - 794
• Main Authors: Archana, M., D’Souza, Placid E., Patil, Jagadeesh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-09-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biological control; Developmental stages; Eggs; Entomopathogenic nematodes; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Heterorhabditis indica; Infectious Diseases; Insecticides; Manures; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mortality; Musca domestica; Nematodes; Original; Original Article; Pest control; Pesticide resistance; Poultry; Steinernema carpocapsae; Steinernema feltiae; Survival; Virulence; Heterorhabditidae; EPN; Steinernematidae; Developmental stages; House fly; Poultry manure; M. domestica
• ISSN: 0971-7196; 0975-0703
• DOI: 10.1007/s12639-017-0889-3

The housefly,
Musca domestica
is a major domestic, medical and veterinary pest. The management of these flies reliance on insecticide, causes environmental constraints, insecticide resistance and residues in the meat, skin. Therefore one of the eco-friendly alternate methods is by using biological agents such as entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN). In the present study evaluated the survival of EPN species
Steinernema feltiae
,
Heterorhabditis indica
,
S. carpocapsae
,
S. glaseri
and
S. abbasi
in poultry manure and also their efficacy against different developmental stages of house fly. After exposing to poultry manure,
S. feltiae
showed more survival as followed by
H. indica
,
S. carpocapsae
,
S. glaseri
and
S. abbasi
in all exposition period. When the exposition period extended to 96 h, all nematode species survivability was drastically reduced. After exposing these nematodes to poultry manure at 24 h their virulence capacity against wax moth,
Galleria mellonella
showed all the nematode species were able cause 100% mortality. However their progeny production was significantly reduced. Fly eggs and pupae were refractory to these nematode infection. Petri dish without artificial diet assay showed that, second and 3rd-instar larvae were highly susceptible to EPNs as compared to larvae provided with artificial diet.
H. indica
showed high virulence capacity compared to other nematodes tested. Poultry manure assay revealed that,
H. indica
and
S. carpocapsae
caused minimal mortality where as
S. feltiae
,
S. glaseri
and
S. abbasi
did not cause any mortality. This may be because of poor survival and limited movement of nematodes in poultry manure which may be due to ammonia, other toxic substances in poultry manure. The decrease in larval mortality in manure suggests that biocontrol of housefly by using EPNs is unlikely.