Objective
- Studies on the biology of important European and African locusts and grasshoppers;
- Search for pathogens of locusts and grasshoppers, their isolation, identification and tests on their efficiency;
- Investigations on ecological requirements of relevant pathogens;
- Studies on physiological and biochemical mechanisms of the pathogenesis;
- Investigations on possible synergistic effects of entomopathogenic fungi combined with insect growth regulators (IGRs).
Expected Outcome
- The project will provide new data on the biology of noxious Mediterranean locust and grasshopper species and it will lead to the isolation of natural occurring antagonists, especially entomopathogenic micro-organisms. These entomopathogens will be tested with respect to the development of environmentally safe and effective biocontrol measures. Furthermore, studies on the influence of some important climatic factors on these pathogens and the combination with some insecticides will lead to a better understanding of the use of entomopathogens in future biocontrol strategies.
Results
- The life cycles of C. italicus in Italy, of D. maroccanus in Spain, of A. aegyptium in Crete and of various locust and grasshopper species in Egypt were studied. Nearly each participant has collected live, diseased and dead locusts and grasshoppers. From these, the following entomopathogens and antagonists have been isolated and/or identified :
- in Italy, Entomophaga grylli and Beauveria bassana where the most important and effective agents;
- in Spain, one Entomopoxvirus, five strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, the fungi B. bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae and some protozoa and nematodes have been isolated and used in bioassays;
- in Greece/Crete, the main antagonists are lizards, birds, mantids, spiders and the two entomopathogenic fungi B. bassana and Aspergillus flavus;
- in France, no virus infection was found in about 2000 specimens of locusts and grasshoppers;
- in Egypt, only one icosahedric virus from Catantops axillaris and one from S. gregaria was found, which proved pathogenic to their hosts.
- Studies in France revealed that UV-B had the most detrimental effect on the survival of conidia. Most of the Metarhizium isolates had a higher tolerance to UV-B than Paecilomyces fumosoroseus and most of the B. bassana isolates tested. The effect of high temperature on the survival of conidia depends greatly on the actual humidity. It was found that the variability among various fungal species and strains against climatical stress was considerably, indicating that a selection of species and/or strains with respect to extreme conditions is useful.
- The pathogenesis of M. anisopliae and M. flavoviride in S. gregaria was studied. Various chitinolytic and proteolytic enzymes were isolated and characterised (UK). Conidia of M. flavoviride could be stored for up to 8 months in oil containing the IGR teflubenzuron. A combination of conidia with teflubenzuron formulated in mineral oil resulted in a synergistic activity against third instar of S. gregaria.
- The biology of the following noxious Orthoptera have been studied : Calliptamus italicus, Dociostaurus maroccanus, Anacridium aegyptium, Schistocerca gregaria (Italy, Spain, Greece);
- Dead and diseased locusts and grasshoppers have been collected in several partner countries and pathogens have been isolated and identified (Egypt, Senegal, Ethiopia). Their efficiency had been tested;
- The effect of UV-radiation, humidity and temperature on the longevity of entomopathogenic fungi has been tested (France);
- The pathogenesis of Metarhizium spp. in locusts and the combined action of M. flavoviride with the IGR teflubenzuron has been tested.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture agronomy plant protection
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology protozoology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology mycology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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Coordinator
38104 BRAUNSCHWEIG
Germany
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