Bioefficacy of Entomopathogenic Nematodes, Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis indica Against Pupae of Spodoptera litura*

Heterorhabditis indica was more virulent against pupae of Spodoptera litura, with its lower LC50s (78.3, 83.2, 113.1 and 91.6 IJs/pupa) compared to Steinernema carpocapsae (99.7, 103.7, 130.8 and 103.0 IJs/pupa) after 96 h of post-infection. The LT50s of H. indica were also lower (85.3–43.7, 86.2–45.7, 139.2–61.7 and 107.4–50.2 h) compared to those of S. carpocapsae (102.9–48.4, 108.6–53.6, 144.9–68.0 and 125.2–51.5 h) in sand, red and black soils at 10% moisture and in black soil at 15% moisture, respectively. The per cent reduction in adult emergence from the infected pupae increased with increase in dosage of S. carpocapsae (44.8–93.0, 32.2–92.8, 14.1–78.3 and 28.590.0) and H. indica (51.9–96.7, 39.3–92.6, 28.5–89.6 and 35.5–92.6 h) in sand, red and black soils at 10% moisture and in black soil at 15% moisture, respectively, but without any significant difference between the EPNs.