Annual cycle of the legume pod borer Maruca vitrata Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in southwestern Burkina Faso

AbstractThe legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata, is an endemic insect pest that causes significant yield loss to the cowpea crop in West Africa. The application of population genetic tools is important in the management of insect pests but such data on M. vitrata is lacking. We applied a set of six microsatellite markers to assess the population structure of M. vitrata collected at five sites from Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria. Observed polymorphisms ranged from one (marker 3393) to eight (marker 32008) alleles per locus. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.0 to 0.8 and 0.0 to 0.6, respectively. Three of the loci in samples from Nigeria and Burkina Faso deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE), whereas no loci deviated significantly in samples from Niger. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that 67.3% level of the genetic variation was within individuals compared to 17.3% among populations. A global estimate of FST=0.1 (ENA corrected FST=0.1) was significant (P⩽0.05) and corroborated by pairwise FST values that were significant among all possible comparisons. A significant correlation was predicted between genetic divergence and geographic distance between subpopulations (R2=0.6, P=0.04), and cluster analysis by the program STRUCTURE predicted that co-ancestry of genotypes were indicative of three distinct populations. The spatial genetic variance among M. vitrata in West Africa may be due to limited gene flow, south-north seasonal movement pattern or other reproductive barriers. This information is important for the cultural, chemical and biological control strategies for managing M. vitrata.

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Infectivity of entomopathogenic nematodes against the legume pod-borer, Maruca vitrata Fabricius, infesting pigeon pea

Journal of Helminthology ◽

10.1017/s0022149x21000043 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 95 ◽

Author(s):

R. Pervez ◽

U. Rao

Keyword(s):

Entomopathogenic Nematodes ◽

Agricultural Research ◽

Insect Pest ◽

Indian Agricultural Research Institute ◽

Pigeon Pea ◽

Fourth Instar ◽

Maruca Vitrata ◽

Pod Borer ◽

Legume Pod Borer ◽

Maximum Penetration

Abstract The legume pod-borer, Maruca vitrata Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) (LPB), is an important insect pest of pigeon pea. Chemical pesticides are generally employed to manage this pest, but because of the soil residue issues and other environmental hazards associated with their use, biopesticides are also in demand. Another benign alternative is to use entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) to manage this vital pest. In the present study, the infectivity of ten native EPNs was evaluated against LPB by assessing their penetration and production in the LPB. The effectiveness of the promising EPNs against second-, third- and fourth-instar LPB larvae was also studied. Heterorhabditis sp. (Indian Agricultural Research Institute-Entomopathogenic Nematodes Rashid Pervez (IARI-EPN RP) 06) and Oscheius sp. (IARI-EPN RP 08) were found to be most pathogenic to LPB, resulting in about 100% mortality within 72 h, followed by Steinernema sp. (IARI-EPN RP 03 and 09). Oscheius sp. (IARI-EPN RP 04) was found to be the least pathogenic to LPB larva with 67% mortality. Maximum penetration was exhibited by Heterorhabditis sp. (IARI-EPN RP 06) followed by Oscheius sp. (IARI-EPN RP 08), whereas the lowest rate of penetration was exhibited by Oscheius sp. (IARI-EPN RP 01). The highest rate of production was observed with Oscheius sp. (IARI-EPN RP 08), followed by Oscheius sp. (IARI-EPN RP 04 and 10). Among the tested instars of the LPB larvae, second-instar larvae were more susceptible to EPNs, followed by third- and fourth-instar larvae. The results indicate that Heterorhabditis sp. (IARI-EPN RP 06) and Oscheius sp. (IARI-EPN RP 08) have a good potential to the manage LPB.

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