The potential of entomopathogens in biological control of white grubs

Abstract

White grubs are highly polyphagous and most destructive soil pests inflicting damage to a wide variety of crops. In India, more than 1000 species of white grubs are known of which over 40 species attack wide range of plants. White grubs are naturally infected by various entomopathogens which include fungi, bacteria and nematodes. Entomopathogenic fungi offer great potential and members of genera Beauveria and Metarhizium are widely used against white grubs. Several commercial products of entomopathogenic fungi like Bio Green, ORY-X, Grub X 10G, Betel, Biotrol FMA and Meta-Guard have been developed for the control of white grubs. In India, good control of white grubs in paddy, ginger and sugarcane has been achieved with different entomofungi. Among EPNs, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora is moderately effective against Popillia japonica and Rhizotrogus majalis. H. indica and H. bacteriophora are effective against potato white grubs in India. Paenibacillus popilliae cause milky disease in P. japonica grubs. The bacterium is pathogenic to Holotrichia consanguinea, H. serrata and Leucopholis lepidophora. In north-western Himalaya, B. cereus is highly toxic to the grubs of H. seticollis and Anomala dimidiata.

Keywords:

• Biological control
• entomopathogenic bacteria
• entomopathogenic fungi
• entomopathogenic nematodes
• white grubs

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Network Coordinator, All India Network Project on Soil Arthropod Pests, Jaipur (India), and Head, Department of Entomology, CSKHPKV Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. We are thankful to Dr SS Kanwar, former Director of Research, CSK HPKV Palampur and Dr Malvika Jaswal, freelance language editor for their language review and suggestions in improving the manuscript during re-revision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Network Coordinator, All India Network Project on Soil Arthropod Pests, Jaipur (India), and Head, Department of Entomology, CSKHPKV Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India.