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Hybridisation and selective breeding for improvement of low temperature activity of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema feltiae

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Abstract

Steinernema feltiae is used to control overwintering larvae of the codling moth Cydia pomonella L. Application is in autumn when efficacy can be limited by low temperature. The objective of this study was to screen for low temperature activity among wild type populations of S. feltiae, hybridise most active strains and further improve low temperature activity by subjection of a hybrid strain to selective breeding. Significant variation was recorded among 22 S. feltiae strains. The temperature at which 50 % (AT50) and 10 % (AT10) of the dauer juveniles (DJs) were active ranged between 2.9 to 5.8 °C and 0.95 to 3.5 °C, respectively. The mean AT50 of 22 S. feltiae strains was 3.83 °C. The five most active strains were crossed. The hybrid strain HYB01 was more active at low temperature than parental and other hybrid strains with an AT50 of 0.52 °C and an AT10 of 0.09 °C. The tolerance was lost after few reproductive cycles in the insect Galleria mellonella, but was recovered after seven selection cycles with exposure to lowering temperatures. The heritability for the low temperature activity was calculated at h 2 = 0.45. Negative trade-off effects on virulence against C. pomonella and reproduction on the same insect were not reported. The most virulent strain was a commercial strain with an LD50 of 30.2 at 8 °C and 37.2 DJs per cocooned instar at 15 °C, followed by the selected hybrid with 48.1 and 47.4 DJs, respectively. Offspring production reached 15.000 DJs per instar at 8 °C and was only half at 15 °C. The results well document the potential of a breeding programme for enhancement of the activity of S. feltiae at lower temperature with the objective to improve the control potential of overwintering codling moth C. pomonella.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to all colleagues for supply with nematode strains. The scholarship to the first author by the German Academic Exchange Service (http://www.daad.de) is gratefully acknowledged as well as a scholarship granted to the second author by the Flemish Interuniversity Council, University Development Cooperation (VLIR-UOS) for participation in the Postgraduate International Nematology Course (http://www.pinc.ugent.be).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Biotechnology and Biological Control, Institute for Phytopathology, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Herrmann-Rodewald Str. 9, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Prakaijan Nimkingrat, Shakhina Khanam, Olaf Strauch & Ralf-Udo Ehlers

  2. Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Shakhina Khanam & Ralf-Udo Ehlers

  3. E-nema GmbH, Klausdorfer Str. 28-36, 24223, Schwentinental, Germany

    Ralf-Udo Ehlers

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  1. Prakaijan Nimkingrat
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  2. Shakhina Khanam
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Correspondence to Ralf-Udo Ehlers.

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Nimkingrat, P., Khanam, S., Strauch, O. et al. Hybridisation and selective breeding for improvement of low temperature activity of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema feltiae . BioControl 58, 417–426 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-012-9497-4

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