نشریه مهار زیستی در گیاه پزشکی
سال دهم شماره 1 (بهار و تابستان 1401)

Tomato leaf miner moth, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is one of the most important and key pests of Solanaceae family. The pest larvae feed on all the aerial organs of the host plant, including leaves, stems and fruits, and if the pest population is not controlled, it can lead to the complete destruction of the crop. According to farmers, the main method of the pest, especially in the early years of its invasion, is the use of chemical pesticides. However, the pesticides residue and their adverse effects on the environment are a serious threat to the health of consumers and ecosystems. Currently, establishing the role and place of replacing chemical products with biological control agents can be effective in reducing these risks. In the meantime, extensive studies over the past few decades have revealed that the method of biological control of pests is considered one of the safe methods for living organisms and the environment as well as effective for controlling pests of greenhouse plants. We review the basic research on the biology of T. absoluta in greenhouses conditions and farms and try to propose an integrated pest management program based on agronomic, biochemical, biological and chemical solutions. A discussion is presented on the methods of using biological control agents such as parasitoids, predators, nematodes and microbial and their individual and combined efficiency of natural enemies and Bt bacteria in tomato fields and greenhouses integrated with other environmentally compatible solutions over quality and healthy crop production.

Biological control of the tomato fruit worm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) by means of inundative release of the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma brassicae (Bezdenko) is a part of an IPM program on tomato crops in Iran. This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of ten commercial tomato cultivars including Aras, Atrak, Korall, Mobil, Rio Grande, Sivand, Super Chief, Super Mobil, Super Queen and Super Urbana on biological characteristics of T. brassicae was studied at 26±1°C, 60±10% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 L:D hours. The mean longevity of female parasitoid wasps ranged from 7.10±0.56 days on the Super Mobil to 8.05±0.49 days on Rio Grande without significant differences. Developmental period from egg to adult of T. brassicae on Super Urbana was highest (8.61±0.03 days) and lowest on the Aras (8.04 ± 0.02 days). The rate of parasitism was lower on the Super Urbana with 30.08 ±1.40% and highest on the Atrak with 35.86±1.56%. The average number of parasitized eggs by T. brassicae was higher (67.85±4.59 eggs/female) on the Rio Grande and lower on the Super Mobil (59.35±5.72 eggs/female). Female-biased sex ratio varied from 59.54±0.54% on the Aras to 62.65±0.40% on Rio Grande. The number of parasitoid progeny per host egg was highest on Super Chief (1.45 individuals per parasitized egg) and was lowest on Aras (1.37 individuals per parasitized egg).The percent emergence was not influenced by tomato cultivars and was about 90% for the entire treatments. The results suggest that differences between tomato cultivars are the causes of variation in the results of T. brassicae parasitism.

Gray mold, caused by Botrytis cinerea is one of the most important diseases in strawberry, causing pre– and postharvest fruit rot. One of the safe and healthy ways to reduce this disease is biocontrol and the use of biological control agents. In this study, using culture–based methods, 268 bacterial strains, and 136 fungal isolates, were isolated and purified from the phyllosphere of strawberry plants in the greenhouse and field in Jiroft city. The antagonistic effect of the isolates against the pathogen B. cinerea was investigated using dual culture and investigation of the inhibition zone, and the effect of volatile compounds under in vitro conditions, as well as the antifungal properties of the antagonistic bacteria on strawberry fruit. Identification of the selected bacterial and fungal strains was made by polymerase chain reaction, respectively, by determining the nucleotide sequence of a part of the 16S–rDNA gene and its region. The results showed that among the examined isolates, bacterial isolates UJB1, UJB3, UJB4, UJB10, UJB5, UJB6, UJB7, UJB11, UJB2, UJB8 and UJB9 and fungal isolates UJF1300, UJF1301, UJF1302, UJF1303, UJF1304, UJF1305 had an effective inhibitory effect against B. cinerea and their volatile compounds reduced pathogenic mycelium growth. In evaluating the antifungal impact of bacterial isolates on strawberry fruit, bacterial isolates UJB8, UJB2, UJB11, UJB6, UJB5, UJB10, UJB4, and UJB1 significantly increased the disease index caused by B. cinerea compared to They reduced the witness. According to morphological and molecular data, bacterial isolates belonging to the genera Delftia (isolates UJB1, UJB3, UJB4, UJB10), Bacillus (isolates UJB5, UJB6, UJB7, UJB11, and UJB2) and Stenotrophomonas (isolates UJB8 and UJB9) and fungal isolates belonging to Albifimbria verrucaria, Aspergillus terreus, Leptosphaerulina australis, Pilidium lythri, Pseudozyma flocculosa, and Seimatosporium pistaciae species.

Application effective botanical pesticides are an objective to keep natural enemies of citrus red mite (CRM) safe in Caspian costal region of Iran. Eeffects of three doses (1, 3, 5 ml/l) of Pestout®a botanical pesticide, was studied against Panonychus citri infesting orange trees in west and east parts of Mazandaran province during 2019. Abamectin 0.2 ml+0.25 ml horticultural oil, 0.5ml of fenpyroximate 5% EC and hexythiazox 10% EC, 1.5% liquid washing detergent compared with water treated check against citrus red mite. A complete randomized block designed in four replications, 8 treatments, conducted on 5 and 15 years old Tampson orange variety in east and west of Mazandaran province respectively. Treatment was done when 5 active mite stages observed on upper surface of 30% collected leaves randomly. Each treatment effects determined by 50 leaves collected randomly one day before and 3, 7, 14, 21 days after spraying. Collected data was converted into impact percentage by Henderson–tilton formula and mean analysis done with SAS software. Maximum and minimum impact percentages of Pest out® doses from 3rd to 14th days after spraying were recorded 43.87±1.43%, to 89.70 ±0,77% in western and 94.47±1.03% up to 98% in eastern part of the province and declined in both places onwards. Pestout® doses caused decreasing natural mite pest enemies until 7th day and increasing them after until 21st day sampling interval. Statistical effects of all treatment in control CRM damages during three months sampling period on orange fruits weight showed insignificant between treatments (p>0.05). Effects of liquid washing detergent on CRM observed almost similar to 1ml/l and 3 ml/l effects of Pest out® in east and west part of province. Applying 1 and 3–ml doses of Pest out® at lower incidence of CRM will provide effective control in east and west part of Mazandaran province respectively..

Fluorescent pseudomonads control plant pathogens by producing siderophore and inhibitory metabolites, and increase plant growth by producing plant hormones, some enzymes and mineral elements solubilization. In this study, 10 isolates of fluorescent pseudomonads from wheat rhizosphere cv. Zagros and Chamran (Dezful) and cv. Kohdasht and Zagros (Parsabad) in early April 2016 and early June 2017 were isolated by cultivation and purification on King B medium and also based on the production of green and yellow fluorescence pigment under UV light at 365 nm. These isolates were evaluated in terms of some metabolic characteristics such as inorganic phosphate solubilization, production of IAA, siderophore, ACC deaminase, hydrogen cyanide and protease, as well as control of wheat common root and crown rot disease caused by B. sorokiniana and increase in length and biomass of wheat shoots and roots in a randomized complete design (RCD) with three replications for each treatment.The UTP105 isolate showed the highest inhibition rate of pathogen growth with 62.5% and 70% in dualculture and production of volatile metabolites tests, respectively. In the greenhouse, the severity of disease was estimated at 85.3%, and UTP104 and UTP105 isolates showed the highest rate of disease reduction with 64.5% and 62.3%, respectively. Also, UTP105 and UTP104 were the most effective in increasing the wheat root and shoot growth parameters, respectively. These isolates are efficient for use in agriculture due to having favorable metabolic characteristics, disease control and plant growth enhancement..

Rice is most important grains consumed by the people of the world. Blast disease and crown and root rot are two important fungal diseases of rice. Endophytic fungi are biological control agents plant diseases and improve growth in the host plant. For this purpose, endophytic fungal isolates and pathogenic isolates from leaves, pods, stems and roots of aerobic rice plants of Golestan province were isolated and identified morphologically and molecularly. Then, their antagonistic activity against Magnaporthe oryzae and Fusarium fujikuroi disease were investigated by three methods, dual culture, volatile metabolites and non–volatile metabolites. The results showed that, in dual culture method, the F. incarnatum had the highest inhibition rate against the growth of M. oryzae and F. fujikuroi, with 58.64 and 60.03% inhibition, respectively. In volatile metabolites method, E. nigrum with 57.13% and F. incarnatum with 52.24% inhibition showed the highest percentage of inhibition of F. fujikuroi. In the method of non–volatile metabolites, F. incarnatum and F. proliferatum showed the highest percentage of inhibiting the growth of M. oryzae with 62.27 and 57.96%, respectively. F. incarnatum showed antagonistic activity in three dual culture, volatile metabolites and non–volatile metabolites against M. oryzae and F. fujikuroi fungi. Also, in this experiment, isolates of F. proliferatum and F. incarnatum inhibited the blast disease and crown rot and increased the height and fresh weight of the shoots and roots of rice plants under greenhouse conditions.incarnatum showed antagonistic activity in three dual culture, volatile metabolites and non-volatile metabolites against M. oryzae and F. fujikuroi fungi. Also, in this experiment, isolates of F. proliferatum and F. incarnatum inhibited the blast disease and crown rot and increased the height and fresh weight of the shoots and roots of rice plants under greenhouse conditions.

Caspian boxwood is one of the most valuable broadleaf evergreen trees in Hyrcanian forests and unfortunately, in the last decade, it has been affected by blight disease caused by the fungus Cylindrocladium buxicola, which is a serious threat to the survival and production of boxwood. Due to the presence of boxwood trees in the forest ecosystems and green spaces of urban areas, safe and environmentally friendly compounds should be used to control the disease. Beauveria bassiana is a plant endophytic fungus with pathogenic ability in insects, whose properties have been proven to increase plant growth, biocontrol pests and limit the activity of phytopathogenic fungi in several host plants. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of some B. bassiana isolates obtained from the Cydalima perspectalis in controlling the fungus C. buxicola. Antagonistic activity of four isolates of B. bassiana was evaluated using double culture in laboratory conditions and also in the plants by inoculation of endophyte fungus in seeds of plants and inoculation of pathogen fungus in leaves. All four isolates were able to establish endophytic relationship on boxwood seedlings. All isolates showed significant antifungal activity against C. buxicola (53–88%) in vitro. As a result of inoculating the plant with endophytic fungi, a high protective effect against blight fungus was observed and the percentage of leaf damage in boxwood plants inoculated with endophytic fungi was significantly lower than the plants that were inoculated only by the pathogen. The results of this research pave the way for a more effective use of B. bassiana in the integrated and simultaneous management of the leaf–eating pest of Caspian boxwood and the blight fungus of these plants, as well as increasing the growth of the host plant..

After obtaining the superior Bt strains in terms of pathogenicity and host range, it is of particular importance to provide low-cost culture media for the production of spores and crystals in laboratory and mass production in industrial-scale bioreactors. In this research, an attempt has been made to provide a suitable and optimal food substrate for the growth of Bt by using cheap inputs such as waste and by-products of agricultural industries, and to evaluate the production rate of this bacterium using these materials. In this research, the waste and by-products of agricultural industries were investigated as culture medium in the form of extract and in liquid form for the propagation of native Bt strain (6R). The culture media were evaluated as a combination of two and three media with different percentages and the optimization process was done with Taguchi method and using Qualitek-4 software. The results of the experiments and data analysis showed that in the culture medium with two substance, beet molasses combined with corn steep with 4.22 × 1010 CFU/ml and wheat bran combined with corn steep with 3.44 × 1010 CFU/ml, and the culture medium with tree substance including soy, corn steep, fish meal 3.98 × 1016 CFU/ml, soy, corn steep, sugar cane molasses 9.89 × 1016 CFU/ml and wheat bran, corn steep, sugar beet molasses 9.29 × 1016 CFU/ml were the best culture media that had the highest production of Bt in laboratory conditions. The results showed that Bt obtained from culture medium with two substance of sugar beet molasses and corn steep, wheat bran and corn steep and culture medium with tree substance of soybean, corn steep and fish meal; corn steep, soybean and sugarcane molasses; corn steep, wheat bran and sugar beet molasses caused 100% mortality on the 3 instar larvae of Spodoptera littoralis

Strawberry gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers.: Fr. is one of the most important diseases of in humid conditions. In this research, the effect of commercial fungicides Roomak® with the active ingredient of pistachio essential oil (Pistacia atlantica Desf.) with the concentrations of 3, 4 and 5; Serenade® containing Bacillus subtilis QST 713 bacteria with the concentrations of 3, 5 and 7, and CeraQuint® with active ingredients copper sulfate and potassium phosphite with concentrations of 2.5, 3 and 3.5, were evaluated in the suppression of gray mold in comparison with the Signum® (boscalid+pyraclostrobin). The experiments were carried out in a complete randomized blocks design with 11 treatments and four replications under the greenhouse conditions. The treatments were applied at the bloom formation time and once every 7–10 days in three stages. The effect of the treatments was evaluated according to percentage of blossom blight and number of infected fruits in the plants and the percentage of infected fruits after storage condition. The results showed that Signum® is the most effective treatment in reducing blossom blight, the number of infected fruits and the percentage of infected fruits in different evaluation stages. Fungicides: Roomak® (4/1000), Serenade® (5/1000) and CeraQuint® (3/1000), reduced the number of infected fruits about 74.9–83.2, 71.6–83.6 and 72.1–82.6 percentage, respectively. The efficiency of these treatments was estimated as 57.9, 54.3, and 66.7% in the reduction of the percentage of infected fruits after harvesting, respectively. The evaluation of the effect of mentioned treatments on blossom blight, showed that the disease was reduced by 62.5–89.3, 54.90–90.5 and 71.4–91.5, respectively. In this way, the use of Romak®, Serenad® and Seraquint® fungicides is effective to control of strawberry gray mold disease, in flowering stages and once every seven days and have fewer disadvantageous effects on health and the environment, compared to chemical fungicides.

Hemolymph of insects is their last defense barrier against foreign factors such as poison particles, pollutants, fungal and bacterial spores and plant metabolites. As the main pillar of physiological defense, hemocytes circulate in the hemolymph and react to stress by changing their number in the early stages. In this research, the effect of the aqueous extract of Mentha piperita, Salvia officinalis, Glycyrrhiza glabra and Crocus sativus on the immune system of Plodia interpuncetlla Hubner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was investigated. Fourth instar larvae were treated with aqueous extracts of plants in concentrations of 10, 6 and 20%. hemocyte density and phenol oxidase activity were measured and recorded in two time periods of 24 and 48 hours. The results showed that the effect of different extracts on the total number of cells, plasmotocytes and granulocytes was significant compared to the control and increased with the increase in the concentration of the extracts in all treatments and at both test times. The total number of cells in the treatment of S. officinalis with a concentration of 6% after 48 hours and M. piperita with concentrations of 20% and 10% increased the most compared to the control. The number of granulocytes under the treatment of S. officinalis with a concentration of 6% after 48 hours showed the greatest increase compared to the control group. plasmotocytes also increased significantly under the effect of M. piperita treatment with concentrations of 10% and 20% after 24 hours and 20% concentration after 48 hours compared to the control. According to the evaluations, the 20% concentration of S. officinalis showed the highest increase in phenol oxidase activity compared to the control and other treatments. The obtained results confirmed the response of the P. interpunctella immune system to the introduction of plant extracts into the hemolymph, which was associated with significant changes in cell density and phenol oxidase enzyme activity. .

The date palm scale Parlatoria blanchardi (Targioni Tozzetti, 1892) (Hem.: Diaspididae) is one of the main and important pests of reducing date palm yield. The predatory coccinellid Chilocorus bipustulatus L. (Col.: Coccinellidae) is well known as the most important active natural enemy in date orchards, which feeds on scale insects, especially the date palm scale In this research, the life table parameters of C. bipustulatus were determined by feeding on the date palm scale. The experiments were carried out in growth chamber under laboratory conditions, at 25±1°C, a relative humidity of 70±5%, and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (Light: Dark). A number of 100 coccinellid eggs of the same age with less than 24 h old were studied, and the study continued until the end of the adult stage. After incubation period, the larvae were fed daily with date palm scale nymphs. The biological parameters of the coccinellid and data were analyzed based on the age–stage, two–sex life table theory. The mean and standard error of population growth parameters were calculated based on the Bootstrap method. The intrinsic rate of increase(r) (day), finite rate of increase (λ), The mean generation time (T) and the gross reproductive rate (GRR), were 0.06 ± 0.01, 1.06 ± 0.01, 56.89 ± 0.32, 34.68 ± 3.08, respectively. The results obtained from this study can make it possible to improve the efficiency of this coccinellid in integrated pest management programs against P. blanchardi by increasing its population through mass rearing and mass release.