African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (22), pp. 2081-2085, 16 November 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Studies  on bacterial flora and biological control agent of Cydia pomonella L.  (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Ömer Ertürk¹* and Zihni Demirbağ²

^1*Department of Biology, Ordu Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Ondokuz Mayıs  University, 52750, Perşembe, Ordu, Turkey.

²Department of Biology Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080-Trabzon, Turkey.

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: oseerturk@hotmail.com. Tel:  90-(452) 517 44 41.  Fax:  90-(452) 517 4468.

Accepted 24 October, 2006

In the present study, in order to find a more effective and safe biological control agent against Cydia pomonella, we investigated the bacterial flora and tested them for insecticidal effects on this insect. According to morphological, physiological and biochemical tests, bacterial flora were identified as Proteus rettgeri (Cp1), Eschericia coli (Cp2), Pseudomonas stutzeri (Cp3), Pseudomonas aeroginosa (Cp4), Bacillus laterosporus  (Cp5), Micrococcus sp. (Cp6), Proteus vulgaris (Cp7) and  Deinococcus sp. (Cp8). Insecticidal effects of bacterial isolates were performed on larvae C. pomonella. The highest insecticidal effect determined was 65 % by Bacillus laterosporus within eight days. The insecticidal effects of the other isolates (Cp1, Cp2, Cp3, Cp4, Cp6, Cp7 and Cp8 ) we determined as 22, 19, 25, 60, 20, 57 and 17% within the same period, respectively. No mortality was detected on control groups.

Key words: Cydia pomonella, bacterial flora, biological control.