Rae, R and Cutler, J (2020) Pathogenicity of wild and commercial Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita exposed to the pestiferous slug Deroceras invadens. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 174. ISSN 0022-2011

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Abstract

Many terrestrial gastropods are pestiferous and pose a significant threat to agriculture, horticulture and floriculture. They are usually controlled by metaldehyde based pellets but an alternative control method is the slug parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita which has been formulated into a biological control agent (Nemaslug®) for use by farmers and gardeners to kill certain pestiferous slug species in 4-21 days. The current strain of P. hermaphrodita (called DMG0001) has been used in commercial production since 1994, but there is little information about the pathogenicity of wild strains of P. hermaphrodita towards slugs. Here, we exposed the pestiferous slug Deroceras invadens to nine wild isolated strains of P. hermaphrodita (DMG0002, DMG0003, DMG0005, DMG0006, DMG0007, DMG0008, DMG0009, DMG0010 and DMG0011) and the commercial strain (DMG0001) to three doses (0, 500 and 1000 nematodes per ml). Survival and feeding were recorded over 14 days. All wild P. hermaphrodita strains (other than DMG0010) and P. hermaphrodita (DMG0001), applied at 500 nematodes per ml caused significantly mortality to D. invadens compared to an uninfected control. Similarly, all P. hermaphrodita strains (apart from DMG0003) caused significant mortality to D. invadens when compared to an uninfected control at 1000 nematodes per ml. Overall, all wild P. hermaphrodita strains (other than DMG0011) caused significantly more mortality than P. hermaphrodita DMG0001 at one or both dose rates. In summary, we have found some wild P. hermaphrodita strains were more virulent than P. hermaphrodita (DMG0001). Ultimately, these strains could potentially be developed as alternative, efficient biological control agents for use against slugs.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0608 Zoology
Subjects:	Q Science > QL Zoology
Divisions:	Biological & Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date Deposited:	27 May 2020 08:48
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2022 15:30
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.jip.2020.107435
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/12996

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