Biological control of pine sawfly (diprion pini l.) and molecular characterisation of effective strains

Diprion pini is one of the most important pests in forest trees around the world. Also the pest was determined in pine forests around the Turkey, causing outbreaks in some regions. Therefore, this study aimed to develop bacterial biopesticides, which can be used to control Diprion pini remarkably and at the same time which do not threaten the environment and human health. Bacterial strains which were effective against different pests in some studies were used. Their insecticidal effects were tested on larvae of Diprion pini in vitro on petri dishes. Seven days after applications, some of the tested strains showed more or less insecticidal activity against this pest. The highest activity was obtained for strains FD-17 and FD-1causing 66.7-80% mortality, respectively. The activities of the other bacterial applications were not statistically different from that of the negative control. In conclusion, strains FD-17 and FD-1 are good candidates for use as biological control agents against this economically important pest. These effective strains were characterized to the species level by 16S rDNA sequence analysis. According to the results, both strains have been identified as Bacillus atrophaeus