Assessment of Cyanobacteria as Biocontrol Agents against the Fall Armyworm, (Spodoptera frugiperda)

Shaker, Hmed M.; Sleem, Rasha A.A.; Mohammad, Abeer M.

doi:10.21608/eajbsf.2025.442848

Assessment of Cyanobacteria as Biocontrol Agents against the Fall Armyworm, (Spodoptera frugiperda)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Sids Agric. Res. Station, Beni Suef, Plant Protection Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt.

² Bioassay Dept., Central Agric., Pesticides Lab. ARC, Dokki, Egypt.

³ Plant Protection Research Institute , Agricultural Research Center , Dokki , Giza , Egypt.

10.21608/eajbsf.2025.442848

Abstract

The pests' growing resistance to chemical pesticides necessitates the search for alternative pest management strategies. The toxicity of cyanobacterial microalgal strains Nostoc muscorum, Arthrospira, Anabanea fertilissima and Anabanea laxa were examined in in vitro assay as a bio pesticide against 4^th instars of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) Larvae fed on leaf discs of castor leaf oil painted with several concentrations of algal solution. The mortality percentage of treated 4^th instar larvae fed on the 4 algal treatments shows that Arthrospira was the most potent, exhibiting the highest toxicity against the 4^th larval instars. Where, its LC50 value was 83.5 ppm while, Anabanea laxa was the least one, its LC50 value was 380.2ppm, the moderate effect 177.8ppm and 243.4ppm for Arthrospira and Anabanea fertilissima respectively all algal treatments show observed effect on carbohydrates hydrolyzing enzymes and biochemical aspects of the pest it was noticed that noticeable decrease in enzymatic activity of invertase, amylase, and trehalase also there was a great disturbance in total carbohydrate, total protein, and total lipid content of larvae which indicate the efficacy of microalgal strains of cyanobacteria as bio pesticide for control fall armyworm.

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