Utilization of Heterorhabitis indica for pest control in the conditions of south Artemisa, Cuba

Abstract

The Heterorhabditis indica nematode has been described as parasite of insects grouped in different families. It presents high capacity of search and mobility, skill to introduce the simbiont bacterium in the insect, high adaptation to new environments and adverse conditions and innocuousness to man and other mammalians; it can be easily applied in field conditions, which permits its employment as biopesticide. It was used the P2M strain of H. indica as part of the integrated control carried out in guava plantations in association with avocado and other fruit trees; moreover in plantations of cabbage, taro, corn, rice and houses of protected cultivations. The works were carried out in the UCTB Alquízar, Finca `Sierra Maestra` of the CCS `Ubaldo Díaz Fuentes`, CCS `Antero Regalado`, CPA `Niceto Pérez` and areas of particular producers. The monthly evaluations in fruit trees plantations permit to decide that after six months it appears only between 40-50% of the galleries for H. indica, besides observing a major number of plants with symptoms of affectations by coleoptera. These results demonstrate that the cycle of application of the entomopathogen must be carried out each six months. The estimated control in a 85% on the diamond black moth of the cabbage and the corn moth; the diminution of the affectations produced by phytonematodes in taro, grape, as well as the efficient control it carries out on chrysomelidae that affect the cultivation of sweet potato, show new roads in the use of the entomopathogen H. indica.