Abstract
Achroia grisella, is a noxious pest of honey bee hives. In this study the toxicity of honey bee venom and bacterial Cry1C toxin of Bacillus thuringiensis on A. grisella were assessed. In addition, the synergistic interaction between BT Cry1c and crude honey bee venom was determined. The combination of HBV and Cry1C increased the activity for both toxins. Therefore, further analysis was carried out to assess the synergistic interaction of each compound assay separately and in mixture. The results showed LC50 value of 1.105 μg/μl for HBV and LC50 value of 0.201 μg/μl for Cry1C. The combination bioassay result showed an LC50 value of 0.549 μg/μl. The combined calculated LC50 is containing lower concentration of the component toxins, this result proved that the toxicity was enhanced due to the combination. A chi square value of 39.93and relative synergistic factor ratio of 1.14 confirmed that a synergic interaction was achieved in combination.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the Department of Agriculture Batu Pahat, Johor Malaysia for their support in providing the lesser wax moth samples used in this research. The gratitude also goes to the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture and University Putra Malaysia (UPM) for their financial support.