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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #345360
Research Project: Urban Small Farms and Gardens Pest Management

Location: Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory

Title: Insecticidal activity of Chromobacterium vaccinii

Author
item Farrar, Robert
item Gundersen-Rindal, Dawn
item Kuhar, Daniel
item Blackburn, Michael - Mike

Submitted to: Journal of Entomological Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/22/2017
Publication Date: 7/1/2018
Citation: Farrar, R.R., Gundersen, D.E., Kuhar, D.J., Blackburn, M.B. 2018. Insecticidal activity of Chromobacterium vaccinii. Journal of Entomological Science. 53:339-346.

Interpretive Summary: The increasing demand for organically grown produce is accompanied by an increasing demand for organic insecticides. The development of a broad spectrum organic insecticide from the Chromobacterium subtsugae has raised interest in whether related species of bacteria also have insecticidal properties. We investigated strains of the closely related C. vaccinii for insecticidal properties against seedcorn maggot, diamondback moth, and the red flour beetle. In contrast to C. subtsugae, which has pronounced toxicity to all three of these insect species, C. vaccinii displayed consistent toxicity only to seedcorn maggot. C. vaccinii displayed slight toxicity to the diamondback moth in one experiment, and had no discernable effect on red flour beetles. This research will be used by scientists and producers of organic insecticides to guide future research into bioinsecticides from Chromobacterium.

Technical Abstract: New isolates of Chromobacterium sp. were obtained from water collected from several localities in the eastern United States and were identified as C. vaccinii. All C. vaccinii isolates were toxic to larvae of the seedcorn maggot, Delia platura (Meigen). C. vaccinii showed only weak activity against larvae of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.). No isolate of C. vaccinii was toxic to adults of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst).