Screening Nematoda Entomopatogen Isolat Jawa Timur Sebagai Agens Pengendali Hayati Serangga Hama Helicoverpa sp. Pada Tanaman Jagung

Abstract

Corn is the important food and crop for Indonesian. Recently, production of corn decreased because of
the pest (Helicoverpa sp.). Until now, the control of Helicoverpa sp. depend on the using of chemical
element. However, effect of synthetic chemical element usage was the appearance of secondary pest,
the death of useful insect and the high accumulation of pesticide residue both in biotic and abiotic
agroecosystem. The residue of pesticide should effect on human health and environment balance.
Furthermore, the control method using biological agents that have pathogenicity to host was done..
One of biological agents is entomopathogenic nematodes. Entomopathogenic nematodes can kill it’s
host at 24-72 hours, have wide host range such as Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera
order, and have no negatif effect on environment. The aim of the research is to find nematodes as
biological agents that effective against pest of corn (Helicoverpa sp.). The research was done in
laboratory of HPT UPN ”Veteran” Jawa Timur and HPT University of Jember. Methods of the
research were : 1) Isolating entomopathogenic nematodes from many endemic area of Helicoverpa
spp. In East Java; 2) Identificating Entomopatogenic Nematodes; 3) Screening Isolates
Entomopathogenic nematodes from East Java. The result indicated that there was an
Entomopathogenic Nematodes Isolate from Tulungagung that has the highest pathogenicity (100%).