Insect-parasitic nematode, Rhabditis blumi and cruciferous crop pests
Caterpillars of some insect pests including Imported cabbage worm (Artogeia rapae; Fig. 1), Diamondback moth (Pluetella xylostella) and Cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae) cause a tremendous damage to many cruciferous plants including cabbage, radish, collard greens (Fig. 2) and mustard.
Imported Cabbage worm
Collard Greens damaged by Imported Cabbage worm
There are different methods including chemical pesticides, cultural methods and biological agents have been used to manage the populations of these caterpillars. Recently, a new insect- parasitic nematode namely Rhabditis blumi, which is not a member of either of the well known entomopathogenic nematode families including Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae has been tested against larvae of cabbage worm, Diamondback moth and Cabbage moth under both laboratory and greenhouse conditions. The results of both petridish and greenhouse bioassays demonstrated that the insect parasitic nematode, R. blumi can cause over 78% mortality of Imported Cabbage worm, Diamondback moth and Cabbage moth (Park et al., 2012).