EXPLORATION AND PATHOGENICITY TEST OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC NEMATODES FROM VARIOUS SUGARCANE CULTIVATION LOCATIONS IN YOGYAKARTA AGAINST THE WHITE GRUB (Lepidiota stigma) Chimayatus Solichah (a*), Rukmowati Brotodjojo (a), Seto Agung Kuncoro (a), Sari Virgawati (a), Heti Herastuti (a)
a) UPN Veteran Yogyakarta
*maya.s[at]upnyk.ac.id
Abstract
White grub (Lepidiota stigma) is a major pest in sugarcane plantations. Entomopathogenic nematodes are expected to be able to become biological agents in controlling this pest. The initial stage in implementing biological control techniques is exploration. Many sugarcane plantations in Yogyakarta are cultivated on sandy soil so that it is suitable for nematodes living environment. This research aims to identify types of entomopathogenic nematodes in sugarcane plantations in Yogyakarta and determine the level of its pathogenicity on L. stigma mortality. This research was carried out at the Plant Protection Laboratory of UPN ^Veteran^ Yogyakarta. The research method used one factor Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 7 replications. The treatment used was nematode isolates obtained from each plot of sugarcane cultivation land consisting of the Madukismo, Jangkang, and Banyuroto sugarcane plantations. The observation data was analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and if there were significant differences, it was continued with Duncan^s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) with a significance level of 5%. The results showed that in the three sugarcane cultivation fields, entomopathogenic nematodes of the type Steinernema sp. were found. The three nematode isolates from different locations were able to cause L. stigma mortality with levels of pathogenicity that were not significantly different.
Keywords: Exploration, Entomopathogenic Nematodes, Sugarcane, White Grub, Lepidiota stigma
