Occurrence of entomopathogenic nematodes (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae) in Meghalaya, NE India

In the present study, the entomopathogenic nematodes were recorded from 89 samples (5.37%) out of 1656 samples collected from 20 sites representing ecologically diverse types of habi ta ts in Meghalaya, India . Out of 89 positive samples, the frequency of occurrence of Steinernema spp. was found to be more (73.03%) than Heterorhabditis sp. (26.97%). All the EPN positive samples were from the forest soils except the one isola ted from banana plantations near teak forest in Jorabat. No entomopathogenic nematodes were isolated from dryland, jhumland (burned and cul tivated land) and wet land (water-saturated soil). Steinernema spp. were mostly isolated from sandy loam soils while Heterorhabditis sp., was isolated from red loam y soil. The isolates were identi fied as Heterorhabditis indica, Steinernema thermophilum and S. glaseri using morphometric analysis and scanning electron microscopic studies.