INSECTICIDAL ACTIVITY OF 31 STRAINS OF BACILLUS AGAINST 5 INSECT SPECIES

Thirty-one strains of Bacillus grown in either an animal-protein-base medium (F) or a plant-protein-base medium supplemented with casein (C) were evaluated for insecticidal activity against the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella; cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni; bollworm, Heliothis zea; southern house mosquito, Culex pipiens fatigens; and the house fly, Musca domestica. Spore populations of medium F were generally >2 × 109 spores/ml as compared to <1 × 109 spores/ml of medium C. Insecticidal activity of the 31 strains ranged from no activity in either medium (Bacillus finitimus-11; B. thuringiensis var. alesti-12, -13; Bacillus thuringiensis var. dendrolimus-19) to activity against all insects for one strain (Bacillus thuringiensis var. anagastae-30). Wax-moth activity was generally confined to Bacillus thuringiensis var. galleriae strains with the exception of the Bacillus thuringiensis var. anagastae. Three strains which were active against the house fly were also active against the house mosquito with activity confined to the broth solids. Bollworm feeding was inhibited by both β-exotoxin-producing and δ-endotoxin-producing strains. © 1969.