RESUMO
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the major global staple food crop that meets the food security demands of various nations across the continents. The recent reduction in wheat production is attributed to several biotic and abiotic factors especially, temperature and rainfall patterns, and pest occurrence. Among insect pests, aphid species are emerging as new pests of economic importance in India and elsewhere. The present investigation identified a new association of Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas with the wheat crop. Life table parameters were studied for M. euphorbiae and Rhopalosiphum padi fed on wheat foliage. The total nymphal duration and life cycle duration, respectively, of R. padi (4.76 ± 0.54 and 9.71 ± 1.38 days) and M. euphorbiae (5.84 ± 0.69 and 9.96 ± 1.31 days) were significantly different for these species. The fecundity of the two aphid species was 23.95 ± 8.67 and 11.6 ± 4.10 progeny/female, respectively. Age-specific survival rate (lx), age-specific fecundity (fx), and population age-specific fecundity (mx) were higher in R. Padi compared to M. euphorbiae. Reproductive value (Vxj) was high in R. padi and the duration of reproduction was less, while these parameters showed an opposite trend in M. euphorbiae. The gross reproduction rate (GRR) was found higher in R. Padi (29.17 offspring/adult lifetime) compared to M. euphorbiae (19.58 offspring/adult lifetime). The M. euphorbiae being a pest of solanaceous crops seems to have shifted to a new host, i.e., wheat. This new adaptation strategy to survive for long periods on a wheat crop might pose a serious threat to wheat crop cultivation in near future.
RESUMO
Spilarctia obliqua Walker (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) is a polyphagous insect pest damaging pulses, oil seeds, cereals, vegetables and medicinal and aromatic plants in India. The pest also infests turmeric and ginger sporadically in Kerala. We observed an epizootic caused by a nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) in field populations of the insects in December 2013. The NPV was purified and characterized. The isolate was tetrahedral in shape and belonged to multicapsid NPV. The REN profile of the SpobNPV genome with Pst I, Xho I and HindIII enzymes showed a genome size of 99.1±3.9 kbp. Partialpolh, lef-8 and lef-9 gene sequences of the isolate showed a close relationship with HycuNPV and SpphNPV. Phylogram and K-2-P distances between similar isolates suggested inclusion of the present SpobNPV isolate to group I NPV. The biological activity of the isolate was tested under laboratory conditions against third instar larvae of S. obliqua and the LC50 was 4.37×10(3)OBs/ml occlusion bodies (OBs) per ml. The median survival time (ST50) was 181 h at a dose of 1×10(6)OBs/ml and 167 h at a dose of 1×10(8)OBs/ml. SpobNPV merits further field evaluation as a potential biological control agent of S. obliqua, a serious pest of many agriculturally important crops in the Oriental region.