ABSTRACT The last two decades brought phenomenal advances in our understanding of biological cont... more ABSTRACT The last two decades brought phenomenal advances in our understanding of biological control of Formosan subterranean termite (FST), Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki through entomopathogenic fungi (EPF). This monograph covers various aspects of EPF (virulence and mode of action) and FST including biology, habitat, distribution, damage and management options. The limited success in the field trials to establish the permanent, self-sustaining populations of EPF necessary to reduce FST densities below economically damaging levels motivated the researchers to work on the hurdles in the way of success. The main focus of the monograph is to explore the host-pathogen relationship in order to deepen our insights into the behavioral, biochemical and physiological adaptations displayed by FST to cope with EPF . Our results enable us to suggest that along with behavioral and biochemical adaptations, immune mechanism of FST play an important role to combat fungal attack. Furthermore, this monograph for the first time shed light on the immune mechanism of FST which is mainly controlled by a variety of genes involved in pathogen recognition, signal modulation, transduction and AMPs production.
International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 2013
ABSTRACT Laboratory bioassays were designed on the strains of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveri... more ABSTRACT Laboratory bioassays were designed on the strains of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana to check the feasibility of using "trap and treat" method for controlling Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Different percentages of exposed C. formosanus workers 100%, 50%, 25% and 1% were then allowed to mingle with unexposed termites 0%, 50%, 75% and 99%, respectively. The mortality of combined group suggested that as the number of exposed individuals decreased, capacity of the workers to resist disease through mutual grooming was increased. Lower percentage of exposed individuals (1%), could not transfer inoculum resulting very low mortality (<3%) in any studied fungus. The strains of M. anisopliae were better than B. bassiana in producing epizootics in the experimental units because these strains produced more directly penetrating appressoria (62-67%), compared to B. bassiana (43-52%). These directly penetrating appressoria might be related to the virulence of the strains. We conclude that grooming ability to protect the termites from fungi is only workable when lower percentages of individuals are exposed. The workers may play pivotal role in the failure of disease epizootics by "trap and treat" method in the field through allogrooming because a colony of C. formosanus comprised of millions of individuals and little inoculum can not be spread among the nest-mates, resulting failure of disease transmission in the field
ABSTRACT Ocinara varians Walker is considered as an important pest of Ficus microcarpa and other ... more ABSTRACT Ocinara varians Walker is considered as an important pest of Ficus microcarpa and other ornamental plants. The present study explained the pathogenic effect of Metarhizium anisopliae on the growth (body weight), mortality, development and various growth indices on newly moulted (III-V) instar larvae at a concentration of 1 × 10 7 spores/ml. Our laboratory experiments showed that there was no difference in the susceptibility of the different larval stages tested in terms of effectiveness on O. varians. These fungal spores retarded the larval growth (35%-76%), which resulted in a prolonged developmental time of the infected larvae. Food consumption (21-27%), relative consumption rate (31-48%), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (18-69%), efficiency of conversion of digested food (26-70%), and relative growth rate (42-84%) values declined significantly, but concurrently a significant increase in approximate digestibility (3-36%) was observed. These results suggest that M. anisopliae may be an alternative for synthetic pesticides in order to protect ornamental plants against O. varians.
ABSTRACT Synthetic pesticides remained the mainstay of Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus... more ABSTRACT Synthetic pesticides remained the mainstay of Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) control over 50 years. However, insecticide resistance, pest resurgence and concerns over human health and environmental pollution by insecticides have encouraged researchers for the development of environmentally benign strategies for pest control including the use of entomopathogenic fungi. Entomopathogenic fungi form the largest single group of insect pathogens. Such insect killing fungi are fast growing microorganisms to be recognized as disease causing agents in insects. Recent developments have revealed that successful invasion of pathogens to cause infection among insect populations relied on many fitness factors. Their failure or attenuation led to the development of disease resistance. The main purpose of this chapter is to highlight the interaction between virulence factors responsible for pathogen invasion and host defense mechanism to eradicate pathogen.
... Sohail Ahmed, *Obaid-ur-Rehman, Fayyaz Ahmad, Muhammad Asam Riaz and Abid ... maize stem bore... more ... Sohail Ahmed, *Obaid-ur-Rehman, Fayyaz Ahmad, Muhammad Asam Riaz and Abid ... maize stem borer and shoofly, insecticides particularly granular formulations are recommended as soil and/or whorl application at 25 and 45 days after sowing (Halimie et al., 1989; Javed et al ...
In order to determine the role of crude extracts of Datura alba nees and Calotropis procera for t... more In order to determine the role of crude extracts of Datura alba nees and Calotropis procera for the protection of sugarcane setts from termites at the time of sowing, and, then sugarcane seedling and cane later in growth stage of sugarcane, when whole plants of D. alba nees and C. ...
International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Jan 24, 2007
Effect of insecticides on germination, bud damage and population of termites was observed by plan... more Effect of insecticides on germination, bud damage and population of termites was observed by planting a variety HSF 240 of sugarcane at Pir Ghazi Shah Farm, Shakarganj Sugar Mills, Ltd. Jhang, under Randomized Complete Block Design having seven treatments ( ...
Plant extracts offer a vast, virtually untapped reservoir of chemical compounds with many potenti... more Plant extracts offer a vast, virtually untapped reservoir of chemical compounds with many potential uses. One of these uses is in agriculture to manage pests with less risk than with synthetic compounds that are toxicologically and environmentally undesirable. Increasing ...
Recent patents on food, nutrition & agriculture, 2014
Crop damage and consequent loss in productivity associated with arthropod pests represent the mos... more Crop damage and consequent loss in productivity associated with arthropod pests represent the most serious threats to the world economy. Different methods have been used in the past to control arthropod pests; however, the increase in incidences of resistance to pesticides, food safety concerns, and concerns related to environmental impact associated with the use of chemical pesticides have led to the recent expansion of biological control agents. Entomopathogenic fungi are important and promising bio-control agents for controlling arthropod pests. This review compiles recent information regarding the potential of entomopathogenic fungi used against arthropod pests, traits responsible for mycoinsecticide virulence, and possible ways to enhance the virulence of entomopathogenic fungi, in order to pave the way for the development of bio-rational and eco-friendly arthropod pest management strategies.
ABSTRACT The last two decades brought phenomenal advances in our understanding of biological cont... more ABSTRACT The last two decades brought phenomenal advances in our understanding of biological control of Formosan subterranean termite (FST), Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki through entomopathogenic fungi (EPF). This monograph covers various aspects of EPF (virulence and mode of action) and FST including biology, habitat, distribution, damage and management options. The limited success in the field trials to establish the permanent, self-sustaining populations of EPF necessary to reduce FST densities below economically damaging levels motivated the researchers to work on the hurdles in the way of success. The main focus of the monograph is to explore the host-pathogen relationship in order to deepen our insights into the behavioral, biochemical and physiological adaptations displayed by FST to cope with EPF . Our results enable us to suggest that along with behavioral and biochemical adaptations, immune mechanism of FST play an important role to combat fungal attack. Furthermore, this monograph for the first time shed light on the immune mechanism of FST which is mainly controlled by a variety of genes involved in pathogen recognition, signal modulation, transduction and AMPs production.
International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 2013
ABSTRACT Laboratory bioassays were designed on the strains of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveri... more ABSTRACT Laboratory bioassays were designed on the strains of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana to check the feasibility of using "trap and treat" method for controlling Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Different percentages of exposed C. formosanus workers 100%, 50%, 25% and 1% were then allowed to mingle with unexposed termites 0%, 50%, 75% and 99%, respectively. The mortality of combined group suggested that as the number of exposed individuals decreased, capacity of the workers to resist disease through mutual grooming was increased. Lower percentage of exposed individuals (1%), could not transfer inoculum resulting very low mortality (<3%) in any studied fungus. The strains of M. anisopliae were better than B. bassiana in producing epizootics in the experimental units because these strains produced more directly penetrating appressoria (62-67%), compared to B. bassiana (43-52%). These directly penetrating appressoria might be related to the virulence of the strains. We conclude that grooming ability to protect the termites from fungi is only workable when lower percentages of individuals are exposed. The workers may play pivotal role in the failure of disease epizootics by "trap and treat" method in the field through allogrooming because a colony of C. formosanus comprised of millions of individuals and little inoculum can not be spread among the nest-mates, resulting failure of disease transmission in the field
ABSTRACT Ocinara varians Walker is considered as an important pest of Ficus microcarpa and other ... more ABSTRACT Ocinara varians Walker is considered as an important pest of Ficus microcarpa and other ornamental plants. The present study explained the pathogenic effect of Metarhizium anisopliae on the growth (body weight), mortality, development and various growth indices on newly moulted (III-V) instar larvae at a concentration of 1 × 10 7 spores/ml. Our laboratory experiments showed that there was no difference in the susceptibility of the different larval stages tested in terms of effectiveness on O. varians. These fungal spores retarded the larval growth (35%-76%), which resulted in a prolonged developmental time of the infected larvae. Food consumption (21-27%), relative consumption rate (31-48%), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (18-69%), efficiency of conversion of digested food (26-70%), and relative growth rate (42-84%) values declined significantly, but concurrently a significant increase in approximate digestibility (3-36%) was observed. These results suggest that M. anisopliae may be an alternative for synthetic pesticides in order to protect ornamental plants against O. varians.
ABSTRACT Synthetic pesticides remained the mainstay of Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus... more ABSTRACT Synthetic pesticides remained the mainstay of Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) control over 50 years. However, insecticide resistance, pest resurgence and concerns over human health and environmental pollution by insecticides have encouraged researchers for the development of environmentally benign strategies for pest control including the use of entomopathogenic fungi. Entomopathogenic fungi form the largest single group of insect pathogens. Such insect killing fungi are fast growing microorganisms to be recognized as disease causing agents in insects. Recent developments have revealed that successful invasion of pathogens to cause infection among insect populations relied on many fitness factors. Their failure or attenuation led to the development of disease resistance. The main purpose of this chapter is to highlight the interaction between virulence factors responsible for pathogen invasion and host defense mechanism to eradicate pathogen.
... Sohail Ahmed, *Obaid-ur-Rehman, Fayyaz Ahmad, Muhammad Asam Riaz and Abid ... maize stem bore... more ... Sohail Ahmed, *Obaid-ur-Rehman, Fayyaz Ahmad, Muhammad Asam Riaz and Abid ... maize stem borer and shoofly, insecticides particularly granular formulations are recommended as soil and/or whorl application at 25 and 45 days after sowing (Halimie et al., 1989; Javed et al ...
In order to determine the role of crude extracts of Datura alba nees and Calotropis procera for t... more In order to determine the role of crude extracts of Datura alba nees and Calotropis procera for the protection of sugarcane setts from termites at the time of sowing, and, then sugarcane seedling and cane later in growth stage of sugarcane, when whole plants of D. alba nees and C. ...
International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Jan 24, 2007
Effect of insecticides on germination, bud damage and population of termites was observed by plan... more Effect of insecticides on germination, bud damage and population of termites was observed by planting a variety HSF 240 of sugarcane at Pir Ghazi Shah Farm, Shakarganj Sugar Mills, Ltd. Jhang, under Randomized Complete Block Design having seven treatments ( ...
Plant extracts offer a vast, virtually untapped reservoir of chemical compounds with many potenti... more Plant extracts offer a vast, virtually untapped reservoir of chemical compounds with many potential uses. One of these uses is in agriculture to manage pests with less risk than with synthetic compounds that are toxicologically and environmentally undesirable. Increasing ...
Recent patents on food, nutrition & agriculture, 2014
Crop damage and consequent loss in productivity associated with arthropod pests represent the mos... more Crop damage and consequent loss in productivity associated with arthropod pests represent the most serious threats to the world economy. Different methods have been used in the past to control arthropod pests; however, the increase in incidences of resistance to pesticides, food safety concerns, and concerns related to environmental impact associated with the use of chemical pesticides have led to the recent expansion of biological control agents. Entomopathogenic fungi are important and promising bio-control agents for controlling arthropod pests. This review compiles recent information regarding the potential of entomopathogenic fungi used against arthropod pests, traits responsible for mycoinsecticide virulence, and possible ways to enhance the virulence of entomopathogenic fungi, in order to pave the way for the development of bio-rational and eco-friendly arthropod pest management strategies.
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