Investigations on comparison of grass plant foraging behaviour of hybrid entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora strain (HBH) and their parents

In this thesis, three different strains of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora were used. One of them is a hybrid strain (HBH) and the two are parents (HB1138 and HB4) of the hybrid strain. Three experimental combinations were conducted in the study. There were A; plant roots, larvae, control; B; plant roots, control I, control II; C; mechanically wounded plant roots, control-I, control-II in Y-tube olfactometers filled with moist sand. The results indicated that for combination A, the most orientation to plants and larvae was HB1138; for combination B, the most tendency to plant roots was HBH and for combination C, the strain HB4 showed the highest response to mechanically damaged plant roots. According to the results, each strain of EPNs may have different response to plant roots and host insects.