Quality of the Entomopathogenic NematodeSteinernema carpocapsaeProduced on Different Media,

The characteristics of morphometric (body length and width), biochemical (fatty acid content), motility, and penetration rate of infective juveniles ofSteinernema carpocapsaeBeijing strain reared on four different culture media [e.g., plant protein medium (I), animal protein medium (II), plant and animal protein medium (III), andin vivoculture (IV) were systematically compared in this research. The results showed that the average lengths of infective juveniles were 497.4 ± 0.09, 514.3 ± 0.08, 525.7 ± 0.09, and 556.6 ± 0.09 μm, the average widths were 24.9 ± 0.006, 25.6 ± 0.005, 26.1 ± 0.006, and 27.9 ± 0.004 μm, and the average dry weights per million infective juveniles were 49.2 ± 2.2, 58.6 ± 2.4, 59.6 ± 1.8, and 80.7 ± 1.7 mg cultured by media I, II, III, and IV, respectively. The highest relative content of fatty acid of infective juveniles was obtained from medium IV at 15.4 ± 1.2 × 105μV/s, and the lowest one was 6.76 ± 0.3 × 105μV/s from medium I and 11.8 ± 0.2 × 105and 13.7 ± 0.3 × 105μV/s from media II and III, respectively. The numbers of nematodes that moved a vertical distance of 5 cm in sand column within 48 h were 24 ± 3.6, 75 ± 11.6, 69 ± 9.7, and 92 ± 13.2 and the penetration rates into theGallerialarva within 24 h were 2.8 ± 0.45, 6.0 ± 1.14, 6.4 ± 0.74, and 6.0 ± 0.7% from media I to IV, respectively. The results indicated that the quality of entomopathogenic nematode was influenced by the cultural medium component. The animal protein, especially from insects which were presented in media II, III, and IV, has a strong positive effect on nematode quality.