Screening of bacterial strains for potential biopesticidal activity against the forest pest Jacobson’s spanworm (Geometridae, Erannis jacobsoni Djak.)
Keywords:
Jacobson's spanworm, Bacillus thuringiensis, biopesticides, forest pestAbstract
This study focused on developing a biological control agent targeting Jacobson's spanworm (Erannis jacobsoni Djak.), a major forest pest in Mongolia. The aim of the research was to isolate and identify Bacillus thuringiensis strains capable of producing toxic crystal proteins, with the goal of contributing to biopesticide development. Samples were collected from dead insects showing symptoms of bacterial infection in order to isolate and screen bacterial strains with activity against Jacobson’s spanworm. Among them, isolate MNL 78-4 demonstrated the highest effectiveness, causing 100% mortality of target insects within 8 days. This result suggests that MNL 78-4 is a promising candidate for further development as a biological control agent for managing Jacobson’s spanworm in Mongolia. These findings indicate that eco-friendly microbial pesticides may provide a sustainable alternative to synthetic chemical insecticides, contributing to forest health, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem balance.
14
References
1. Martin P. A. W., et al., Microbial combinatorics: a simplified approach for isolating insecticidal bacteria. Biocontrol Science and Technology. (2008). https://doi.org/10.1080/09583150801899716.
2. Puntsagdulam J., et al., Forest Insects of Mongolia, 306. Best Color International Printing Company, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2020).
3. Huang X., et al., Suitable distribution areas of Jas's larch inchworm in Mongolia Plateau. Journal of North-West A&F University, (2018), pp 1-9. doi.10.13207/j.cnki.jnwafu.2018.04.012
4. Haboudane D, et al., Hyperspectral Vegetation Indices and Novel Algorithms for Predicting Green LAI of Crop Canopies: Modeling and Validation in the Context of Precision Agriculture Remote Sensing of Environment 90 (2004), pp. 337- 352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2003.12.013.
5. Siyu L., et al., Construction of hyperspectral reflectance and spectral index inversion model for the water content of Catalpa bungei leaves [J]. Microchem. J. (2024), https://ssrn.com/abstract=4583163.
6. Baath S.G., et al., Detecting biophysical characteristics and nitrogen status of finger millet at hyperspectral and multispectral resolutions#13;[J]. Front. Agron. 2 (2021), https://doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2020.604598.
7. Xia L., et al., Monitoring the leaf damage by the rice leafroller with deep learning and ultra‐light UAV, Pest Management Science 80 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.8401.
8. Luo X., et al., Improving agricultural mechanization level to promote agricultural sustainable development. Trans. Chin. Soc. Agric. Eng (2016) 32, pp. 1–11.
9. Sree K. S., et al., An Introduction to Entomopathogenic Microorganisms. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14499-3_1.
10. Bondarchuk, E. et al., Screening of promising bacterial strains against pests of Lepidoptera. (2020). https://doi.org/10.28983/PLAMIC2020.047.
11. Oulebsir-Mohandkaci et al., Screening of Insect Pathogenic Bacteria Isolated from Agricultural Soils, Characterisation of Their Bioactive Metabolites and Study of Their Effects Against Galleria Mellonela (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae). (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70548-4_359.
12. Ghassemi-Kahrizeh A., et al., Isolation, characterisation and toxicity of native Bacillus thuringiensis isolates from different hosts and habitats in Iran. Journal of Plant Protection Research (2017). https://doi.org/10.1515/JPPR-2017-0029.
13. Liu L., et al., A single amino acid polymorphism in ABCC2 loop 1 is responsible for differential toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac toxin in different Spodoptera (Noctuidae) species. Insect Biochem Mol Biol (2018) 100:59–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2018.06.004.
14. Yamamoto Y,, et al. (2014). Efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis strains isolated from nature reserves against Lepidoptera pests. Biological Control, 78, pp. 12–18.
15. Bai L., et al., Potential of unmanned aerial vehicle red–green–blue images for detecting needle pests: A case study with Erannis jacobsoni Djak. Insects, (2024). 15, 172. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15030172.
16. Logan N. A., et al., Bergey’s Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria (2015) 1–163. Wiley, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00114.
17. Bravo A., et al., Bacillus thuringiensis: A story of a successful bioinsecticide. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 41(7) (2011) pp. 423–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2011.02.006.
18. Travers R. S., et al., Selective process for efficient isolation of soil Bacillus spp. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, (1987) 53(6), pp. 1263–1266 https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.53.6.1263-1266.1987.
19. Schnepf E., et al., Bacillus thuringiensis and its pesticidal crystal proteins. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, (1998). 62(3), pp. 775–806. https://doi.org/10.1128/MMBR.62.3.775-806.1998.
20. Makhov I., et al., Geometridae (Lepidoptera) of the Baikal region: keys to species and an annotated catalogue. Part 1. Ennominae. Zootaxa, (2021) 4962 (1): pp. 18-22, 52. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4962.1.1.
21. EPPO Global Database “EPPO Project on quarantine pests for forestry” (2020). https://gd.eppo.int > doc > 1326_ds_ERANJA_en.
22. The Mongolian National standards MNS 6543: 2019 “Bioinsecticide Bt-MN01 for Lepidoptera insect control, technocal requirements.”
23. Khureldagva O., et al., Effectiveness of Beauveria bassiana Bioinsecticide against the Erannis jacobsoni diak. European Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences, 3(2), (2021) pp. 22-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.24018/ejfood.2021.3.2.209
24. Bravo A., et al., Bacillus thuringiensis: A story of a successful bioinsecticide. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 41(7), (2011) pp. 423–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2011.02.006.
25. Frankenhuyzen K., Insecticidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis crystal proteins. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, (2009) 101(1), pp. 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2009.02.009.
26. Sanchis V., et al., Bacillus thuringiensis: Applications in agriculture and insect resistance management. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, (2008) 28(1), pp. 11–20. https://doi.org/10.1051/agro:2007054.
27. Zhang J., et al., A novel Bacillus thuringiensis isolate kills Spodoptera litura larvae by degrading larval peritrophic matrix. Scientific Reports, 6, (2016) 26362. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26362.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Mend-Amar Mendbayar, Enkhtsatsral Elbegbayar, Erdenechimeg Shagdar, Gerelmaa Zorigtbaatar, Amumandal Orgil, Enkhnasan Davaadorj, Altanchimeg Dorjsuren, Uuriintuya Munkhbayar, Rentsenkhand Tserennadmid, Pagmadulam Baldorj
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright on any research article in the Proceedings of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences is retained by the author(s).
The authors grant the Proceedings of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.
Articles in the Proceedings of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences are Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY.
This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
