Study identifies nematode species that protect crops without pesticides
These worms, known as nematodes, have the potential to manage crop pests in warm, humid environments where other beneficial nematodes do not currently thrive.
The study was published in the Journal of Parasitology.
This new species belongs to the Steinernema family of nematodes, which has long been employed in agriculture to treat insect parasites without the use of pesticides. Steinernema are harmless to humans and other mammals and were discovered in the 1920s.
«We spray trillions of them on crops every year, and they're easy to buy,» said UCR nematology professor Adler Dillman, whose lab made the discovery.
«Though there are more than 100 species of Steinernema, we're always on the lookout for new ones because each has unique features. Some might be better in certain climates or with certain insects.»
Hoping to gain a deeper understanding of a different Steinernema species, Dillman's laboratory requested samples from colleagues in Thailand.
«We did DNA analysis on the samples and realized they weren't the ones we had requested. Genetically, they didn't look like anything else that has ever been described,» Dillman said.
Dillman and his colleagues have now described the new species in the Journal of Parasitology. They are nearly invisible to the naked eye, about half the width of a human hair and just under 1 millimetre long.
«Several thousand in a flask looks like dusty water,» Dillman said.
They've named the new species Steinernema adamsi after the American biologist Byron Adams, Biology Department
