The codling moth (CM), Cydia pomonella L., is the key pest of pome fruits in Bulgaria. Reduction of pesticide use is an important consideration for human health as well as for conservation of biodiversity. Environmentally friendly methods such as semiochemicals are among the most promising. These trials were carried out during the years 2020 and 2021 in southeast Bulgaria to test the effectiveness of microencapsulated sprayable pheromones in apple orchards using CIDETRAK® CM MEC (pheromone) liquid formulations as well as the effectiveness of mating disruption (MD) using CIDETRAK® CMDA COMBO™ MESO™ -A dispensers at rate of 80 dispensers per ha. Monitoring of CM flights was implemented using pheromone or pheromone and kairomone lures with traps during the years of the study. The traps baited with standard PHEROCON® CM L2 lures were changed at 4-week intervals. We also used PHEROCON® CMDA COMBO™ - P + AA lures, which is a new product developed by Trécé Inc., USA for use in orchards with MD. The traps baited with PHEROCON® CM DA COMBO - P + AA lures were changed at 8-week intervals. The damage in the treatment plot increased slowly over time and even in late cultivars, fruit damage by CM was below the economical threshold from 0.1 to 0.2% in both years of the study. Comparatively, ten insecticide treatments were applied to the reference orchard located in the region during the season, targeting CM and other pests. Correspondingly, fruit damage at harvest in the reference orchard by CM was from 2.2 to 2.5%. The significance of differences in the damage rate between the trial and the reference orchard was estimated by Chi-square tests. These new products developed by Trécé Inc., USA can be used in organic farming and fits perfectly into any IPM system. The use of CIDETRAK® CM MEC and CIDETRAK® CMDA COMBO™ MESO™ - A dispensers will help growers to decrease the number of chemical treatments in the field. Introduction of these products for pest management should result in reduction of the use of conventional chemical insecticide treatments, thus resulting in less environmental pollution and improved food quality.

A study was done to investigate the antagonistic effects of three Trichoderma viride isolates (TV1, TV2 and TV3) on Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. The results revealed that the isolate TV1 proved to be the best in suppressing the mycelial growth by 77% after 7 days of incubation. However 74.91% and 50% inhibition were recorded on 5th and 3rd days of incubation, respectively. The isolate TV2 caused inhibition of 74.77% on 7th day, and 72.66% and 48.33% after 5th and 3rd days of incubation, respectively. 72.54%, 70.41%, and 51.66% inhibition in mycelial growth of the pathogenic fungus was caused by TV3 isolate after 7th, 5th, and 3rd days of incubation respectively. All the test isolates of T. viride showed a significant effect on the vigour index of common bean. The maximum germination percentage was observed on treatment with TV1 isolate (85%) followed by TV2 (83%) and TV3 (81%) respectively, in comparison to untreated seeds which showed a germination percentage of 73%. Maximum vigour index was shown by those plants whose seeds were treated with TV1 (11560), followed by those treated with isolate TV2 (10707) and TV3 (9234), whereas the control plants showed significantly lower vigour index of 7446 in comparison to treated plants .

Spodoptera exigua (Hubner) is a polyphagous insect pest that is detrimental to farmers. Nanotechnology exists as a renewable technology that can increase effectiveness due to the small size of particles it produces. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles from the fungi Metarhizium, Trichoderma, and The Bacillus bacteria which are biocontrol agents. The research started in February and ended in May 2020, at the Biological Research Laboratory, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Education, University of Pendidikan Indonesia. The experiment was based on a completely randomized design method (CRD). Onion armyworm (Spodoptera exigua), two isolates from the fungi Metarhizium and Trichoderma were obtained from the Indonesia Vegetable Research Institute (IVERRI). Each extract of Metarhizium and Trichoderma fungi and 50 mL of extract from Bacillus bacteria were added to 50 mL of Ag + 60 ppm solution in a 250 mL glass tube. The mixture of Metarhizium mushroom extract with 60 ppm Ag + solution or Trichoderma mushroom with Ag + 60 ppm solution was incubated at 400 C with a rotation speed of 200 rpm for five days under a dark condition. For the mixture of bacterial extracts with Ag + 60 ppm solution, incubation was at room temperature with a rotation speed of 150 rpm for three days. Analysis of the effect of NPP on the mortality of S. exiguawas done using the treatments, Metarhizum, Trichoderma, Bacillus, NPP-Metarhizium, NPP-Trichoderma, NPP-Bacillus, NPP, and distilled water as controls. Third instar larvae of S. exigua were immersed for 30 seconds. After immersion, the larvae are placed in sterile Petri dishes that have been lined with sterile filter paper and provided with caterpillar feed. Observation of caterpillar mortality was recorded at 2, 4, 6, 9, 24, 48, 64, 72, 96 and 108 hours after treatment. There were three replicates the results showed that all the treatments caused death of the insect, both entomopathogens and entomopathogenic nanoparticles. We found the three treatments of silver nanoparticles highly lethal to S. exigua. Two treatments, NPP-Metarhizium and NPP-Bacillus even caused 100% mortality after 120 hrs treatment. The possible reason for the pathogenicity of these products is considered to be biosynthesis of nanoparticles and enzymatic substances

Under laboratory and glasshouse conditions, the insecticidal activities of the essential oil obtained from leaves of the tea tree plant by steam distillation was evaluated against the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii. The results showed that tea tree essential oil affected the aphid population causing a higher mortality of A. gossypii. This study showed that the 50 μL/mL concentration of tea essential oil caused 85.67% mortality after 24 hrs exposure time when used as contact treatment. However, the mortalities at 10, 20 and 30 μL/mL were 18.33, 21.67 and 70%, respectively, after 24 hrs of exposure. Conversely, the residual treatment was the most effective on the cotton aphid, with 100% mortality at the concentration of 50 μL/mL after 24 hrs of exposure to the essential oil. In contrast, the mortalities of A. gossypii were 15.00, 24.44 and 92.78% at the concentrations of 10, 20 and 30 μL/mL, respectively, after 24 hrs of exposure. The formulation of the tea tree essential oil was enormously potent in reducing the cotton aphid population on the sweet pepper, but was slightly phytotoxic to the potted plants. No significant differences were observed between tea tree oil formulations compared with the chemical pesticides, Karate and botanical insecticide, Levo. Based on our findings, the tea tree essential oil can be used as a botanical pesticide against A. gossypii after modifying it to reduce the phytotoxicity on the plants.

In continuous search for alternative insecticides to combat potential problem of termite infestation in household and tree plantations; the bioactivity of the essential oils extracted by hydro distillation of leaves of Ocimum gratissimum, Gongronema latifolium and Piper guineensis was assessed under laboratory conditions at 20+30C, 70-75% R.H. and 12: 12h light: dark regimes for its biological activity against workers of the termites with Chlorpyrifos insecticide as a standard check. The botanicals were extracted using a Soxhlet extractor and serially diluted at different concentrations of 0.125%, 0.25% and 0.50% including 0% as the control. The essential oils at 0.25ml of the different concentrations of the botanicals and insecticide were applied using a syringe on twelve adult workers of termites in each Petri dishes. Mortality count or number of the termites knocked down after thirty, sixty, ninety and one hundred and twenty minutes respectively during the trial was recorded and expressed in percentages. The individual components of the essential oil were identified through GC, GC-MS and GC-Co injection with authentic standards. The identity of a total of 17 constituent compounds of the essential oil of each plant was confirmed and their relative proportion determined. The major compounds identified among the botanicals and the insecticide in their relative proportion included Alpha Pinene, Quinoline, 3- methyl and Benzylisoquinoline. Only Alpha Pinene was found in O. gratissimum and Chlorpyrifos insecticide, while Quinoline, 3 methyl and Benzylisoquinoline were recorded in the botanicals including the insecticide. The major components were found to be largely responsible for the toxic action of its essential oil against the termites. The highest dosage of the essential oils of the plant materials tested induced the highest mortality in the termites after 120 minutes. Within `120 minutes, O. gratissimum (55%) P. guineensis oil (52%) was significantly more effective than G. latifolium (47%) at the bioactive concentration of 0.25mg/L while Chlorpyrifos insecticide recorded the highest termite mortality. The termite mortality increased gradually with the increase in essential oil concentrations and with the time of exposure. There is need to diversify the use of botanicals especially in the agricultural pest management sector

There is a search for plant based alternatives to synthetic chemicals to control pests in crop plants were started from any years back. In this study, the efficacy of common ferns to control the whitefly, Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in coconut plantation was investigated. The whiteflies are prevalent throughout the year in the coconut fields and cause severe losses to the farmers. Ferns such as Adiantum caudatum, Hemionitis opposita, Pteris biaurita, Thelypteris meeboldii and Nephrolepis cordifoliawere evaluated for their efficacy in the control of the whitefly, A. rugioperculatus. The aqueous extracts of the ferns were screened at different concentrations viz., 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0% against A. rugioperculatus under laboratory conditions. Extracts from H. opposita and Thelypteris meeboldii showed the maximum mortality rate of 87% followed by Nephrolepis cordifolia (86%), Adiantum caudatum (83%) and Pteris biaurita (77%) at 5% concentration after 96 hours of treatment. The phytochemical screening of the extracts showed a qualitatively increased level of saponins in H. opposita and T. meeboldii. Reduced chlorophyll, carbohydrate and amino acid content were observed in the whitefly's infested leaves and increased protein content was observed in the infested leaves. Based on the study, the aqueous extracts of H. opposita and T. meeboldii can be recommended for the whitefly control in coconut plantations

Entomopathogenic fungi play an important role in the biological control of the insect pest population in an agroecosystem. Metarhizium anisopliae is one such entomopathogenic fungus, proved to be an effective biocontrol agent against different insect pests. However, different strains of entomopathogens show variations in their pathogenicity and host specificity. Hence the present study is aimed to determine the bioefficacy of local isolates of the entomopathogenic fungus M. anisopliae to control Dysdercus cingulatus. Fungal strains were isolated from cotton fields in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Thenkasi, and Viruthunagar districts of Tamil Nadu following standard protocols. Four different isolates were identified and used for the bioassay. Bioefficacy trials were carried out in all the five nymphal instars and the adults of D. cingulatus and were treated with eight different concentrations of M. anisopliae (101,102,103,104,105,106,107and 108 spores/mL). The formulations were evaluated for their pathogenicity and efficiency against D. cingulatusnymphal instars and adults which resulted in 70% to 100% mortality. A 100% mortality rate was observed in four isolates of M. anisopliae at higher concentrations (120 hrs) after treatment. Lethal concentration (LC50) values of M. anisopliae isolates against D. cingulatus were calculated as 5.94×107(ERUM1), 6.09×107(ERUM2), 2.62×107(ERUM3), 2.69×107(ERUM4). Approaching biocontrol agents instead of chemical pesticides seems to be very promising in the march towards more sustainable, eco-friendly agricultural pest management practices and protecting the environment

Lepidopteran insect pests voraciously feed the vegetable crops and causes yield loss every year. Chemical insecticides widely used to control the destructive pest incidence which heavily affects the beneficial and non-target organisms and in the mean time, pests developed resistance. Biopesticides are being developed to minimize these ill effects. Plants synthesize secondary metabolites to prevent from biotic and abiotic stresses. More than 27 families of pteridophyta (ferns) are reported with phytoecdysteroids (PEs). PEs are analogues of insect moulting hormone and acts as insect growth regulators (IGRs). The present study aimed to isolate the phytoecdysteroid fraction from the fern, Pityrogramma calomelanos, preliminary screening of phytochemicals using standard protocols including UV-Visible spectrophotometric analysis and survival, growth and developmental periods of Spodoptera litura treated with phytoecdysteroid fraction. Steroids and phenolic compounds were present in the fraction and six prominent peaks were recorded between the wavelength of 200-800nm. Spodoptera litura larvae treated with phytoecdysteroid fraction showed maximum larval mortality (68%) in 2000ppm (LC50 = 1473ppm; F = 48.65; p = 0.049). Pupation, pupal weight and adult emergence were decreased in higher concentrations. Pupal mortality was relatively high in treated group than control (2.04%). Larvae treated with minimal concentrations exhibited developmental deformities includes larval - pupal, pupal -adult intermediates, deformed pupae, ecdysial failure, adultoids, early/late developmental periods and it may due to the interaction of phytoecdysteroid fraction to the insect endocrine system. Therefore, phytoecdysteroid mediated biopesticide formulation could be the better alternative to commercial chemical insecticides under IPM programme.