PAKISTANI STRAINS OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC NEMATODE AS A BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT AGAINST STORED GRAIN PEST, TRIBOLIUM CASTANEUM

Seven indigenous entomopathogenic nematodes viz., S. pakistanense Shahina, Anis, Reid & Maqbool (Ham 10 strain); S. asiaticum Anis, Shahina, Reid & Rowe (211 strain); S. abbasi Elawad, Ahmad & Reid (507 strain); S. siamkayai Stock, Somsook & Reid (157 strain); S. feltiae Filipjev (A05 strains), H. bacteriophora Poinar (1743 strain) and H. indica Poinar, Karunakar & David (HAM-64 strain) were examined against adult and larval stage of Tribolium castaneum in laboratory bioassays. The activity of the strains was determined at four different concentrations in Petri dish and concrete container. Mortality of adult and larval stage red flour beetle was higher in the nematode treatments than in the control. Red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) is worldwide in distribution and is the commonest pest of wheat flour (Sokoloff, 1972). T. castaneum infest a wide range of commodities and products including barley, beans, biscuits, breakfast cereals, cacao, corn, cornmeal, cottonseed, dried fruits, drugs, flour, legume seeds, milk chocolate, millet, nuts, oats, peas, powdered milk, rice, rye, spices, sunflower seeds, wheat and wheat bran, herbarium and museum collections. T. castaneum successfully feeds on many species of storage fungi, which may also play a significant role in nutrition (Mason, 2003).