Determination of bacterial control agents of almond moth, Ephestia (Cadra) Cautella

Almond moth, Ephestia cautella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is one of the most serious pests of dried fruits and other stored products. Almond moth is polyphagous pest which is widespread in all over the world and our country. Larvae of almond moth cause serious damages on tree, warehouse and threshing floor of drying fig. Although various cultural, chemical and biological methods are being used to control this pest, its damage still continious effectively all over the world and our country. In order to find a significant microbial control agent against this pest, first of all, we determined 13 bacterial isolates and identified these isolates based on morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular characteristics. According to these characteristics were identified as Serratia sp. (Eca1, Eca3 and Eca11), Bacillus thuringiensis (Eca2, Eca4, Eca6, Eca7, Eca8, Eca9, Eca10, Eca12, Eca13) and Bacillus axarquensis (Eca5). The insecticidal activities of these isolates were performed against three insect species from Lepidoptera group which cause serious damages in warehouses. The highest insecticidal activity is 57 % for Eca9 isolate on the 3th instar larvae of E. cautella, 100 % for Eca9 isolate on the 3th instar larvae of Plodia interpunctella and % 100 for Eca10 and Eca3 isolate on the 3th instar larvae of E. kuehniella. Results indicate that Eca9, Eca3 and Eca10 isolates may be valuable as potential biological control agents for the control of warehouse pests.Keywords: Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacterial flora, Ephestia cautella,microbial control