Microbial control using bacteria of the almond moth, Cadra (Ephestia) cautella Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Almond moth, Cadra (Ephestia) cautella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is one of the most serious pests of dried fruits and other stored products. Almond moth is polyphagous pest that is widespread in Turkey and all over the world. Almond moth larvae cause serious damages on trees, warehouse and threshing floor of drying fig. Though various cultural, chemical and biological methods are used to control this pest, it is still effective in Turkey and various part of the world. In order to find a significant microbial control agent against this pest, we isolated 13 bacterial isolates and identified these isolates based on morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular characteristics. According to these characteristics, isolates were identified as Serratia marcescens (Eca1 and Eca3), Serratia sp. (Eca11), Bacillus thuringiensis (Eca2, Eca4, Eca6, Eca7, Eca8, Eca9, Eca10, Eca12, Eca13) and Bacillus axarquiensis (Eca5). The insecticidal activities of these isolates were performed against three insect species from Lepidoptera group which cause serious damage in warehouses. The highest insecticidal activity is 57% for Eca9 isolate on the 3rd instar larvae of C. cautella, 100% for Eca9 isolate on the 3rd instar larvae of Plodia interpunctella and 100% for Eca10 and Eca3 isolate on the 3rd 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.