Toxicity of Indian Mustard and Allyl Isothiocyanate to Masked Chafer Beetle Larvae

Abstract

Alternatives for control of soil-inhabiting pests are needed due to the phase-out of methyl bromide. One possible alternative is using the pesticidal properties of compounds released by macerated Brassica tissues. In this study, larvae of masked chafer beetles (Cyclocephala spp.) were placed in soil amended with Brassica juncea L. (PI 458934) tissue. Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) levels were positively correlated to larval mortality, with the 8% B. juncea treatment resulting in 100% larval mortality with an average AITC concentration of 11.4 mg per liter of soil atmosphere. Although B. juncea produces high levels of AITC, the mass of tissue required for significant insecticidal activity against Cyclocephala spp. also is high, between 4 and 8% of soil mass for this plant accession. Accepted for publication 23 May 2002. Published 10 June 2002.

Study the Inhibitory Effect of Mustard Seed Powder on the Growth of Sclerotium rolfsii

“…Mustard seed meal proved to be effective for controlling the pathogen and resulted in decreasing the linear growth of the pathogen Rhizoctonia solani at all levels (5, 10 and 25 mg plate -1 ) as compared with the control. The results are in conformity with those of Noble et al, (2002). Seed meal of Brassica species suppresses the growth of Pythium ultimum, Rhizoctonia solani (Charan and Sams (1999)) and Fusarium sambucinum (Mayton et al, 1996).…”

Performance of a predatory ladybird beetle, Anegleis cardoni (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on three aphid species

“…The shorter longevity of A. cardoni reared on L. erysimi relative to other diets, suggests the possible presence of chemicals or alkaloids (Hodek, 1956;Okamoto, 1966) that make this prey unsuitable for this ladybeetle. Lipaphis erysimi has a pungent smell, presumably the result of compounds sequestered from its host plant, and it is possible that allyl isothiocyanates sequestered from its host plant are, to some degree, responsible for its reduced suitability as prey, as previously reported for other Coleoptera (Williams et al, 1993;Noble et al, 2002). C. septempunctata also develops more slowly when reared on L. erysimi (Singh et al, 1994;Kumar & Verma, 1996;Joshi et al, 1999 2007), C. transversalis (Omkar & James, 2004) and P. dissecta (Pervez & Omkar, 2004) perform relatively better on L. erysimi in terms of development, survival and reproduction.…”

Stage specific consumption and utilization of aphids, conspecific and heterospecific eggs by two species of Coccinella (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

“…Consumption rate, conversion efficiency sive surface chemicals deter ladybirds from attacking eggs (Agarwala & Dixon, 1992;Hemptinne et al, 2000a, b). In contrast, the harmful alkaloids that certain aphid species sequester from their host plants render them less suitable prey for ladybirds (Obatake & Suzuki, 1985;Noble et al, 2002) and as a consequence conspecific (Agarwala & Dixon, 1992;Omkar et al, 2006) and heterospecific eggs are more available / palatable prey than aphids for these biocontrol agents and this may either impede aphid pest suppression or pose a threat to other ladybirds (Brown et al, 2011). Therefore, prior to the mass multiplication of ladybirds in laboratories or formulation of predatory guilds of ladybirds for use in the control of aphid pests, a laboratory assessment of the nutritive suitability of the eggs as food for the various ladybirds versus the target aphid is needed.…”