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. 2020 May 15;11(5):310.
doi: 10.3390/insects11050310.

Insecticidal Activity of Bacillus thuringiensis Strains on the Nettle Caterpillar, Euprosterna elaeasa (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae)

Angelica Plata-Rueda  1 , Hughes Antonio Quintero  2 , José Eduardo Serrão  3 , Luis Carlos Martínez  3
Affiliations

Insecticidal Activity of Bacillus thuringiensis Strains on the Nettle Caterpillar, Euprosterna elaeasa (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae)

Angelica Plata-Rueda et al. Insects. .

Abstract

In the present work, we evaluated the insecticidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) strains on Euprosterna elaeasa as an alternative for the organophosphate insecticide use in oil palm plantations in the Americas. The toxic effects of four Bt-strains (HD-1 var. kurstaki, SA-12 var. kurstaki, ABTS-1857 var. aizawai, and GC-91 var. aizawai) were evaluated against E. elaeasa caterpillars for toxicity, survival, anti-feeding, and mortality in field-controlled conditions. The Bt-strains, ABTS-1857 var. aizawai (LC50 = 0.84 mg mL-1), GC-91 var. aizawai (LC50 = 1.13 mg mL-1), and HD-1 var. kurstaki (LC50 = 1.25 mg mL-1), were the most toxic to E. elaeasa. The caterpillar survival was 99% without exposure to Bt-strains, and decreased to 52-23% in insects treated with the LC50 and 10-1% in insects exposed to LC90 after 48 h. Furthermore, Bt-strains decreased significantly the consumption of oil palm leaves of E. elaeasa 3 h after exposure. Mortality of E. elaeasa caterpillars caused by Bt-strains had similar lethal effects in the laboratory and in field conditions. Our data suggest that Bt-strains have insecticidal activity against E. elaeasa and, therefore, have potential applications in oil palm pest management schemes.

Keywords: anti-feeding effect; biological control; biopesticide; oil palm pest; survivorship; toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survival curves of Euprosterna elaeasa caterpillars exposed to Bacillus thuringiensis strains, subjected to survival analyses using the Kaplan–Meier estimators’ log-rank test. Lethal dose of (A) LC50 (χ2 = 9.47; p < 0.001) and (B) LC90 (χ2 = 18.57; p < 0.001).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Leaf area consumed by Euprosterna elaeasa caterpillars exposed to Bacillus thuringiensis strains (LC50 (A) and LC90 (B) estimated values). Treatments (mean ± SEM) differ at p < 0.05 (Tukey’s mean separation test).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mortality of Euprosterna elaeasa caterpillars by Bacillus thuringiensis strains to level LC90 application on oil palm trees. Treatment means (percent mortality ± SEM) with different letters show significant differences by Tukey’s HSD test at the p < 0.05 level.
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