Superior efficacy observed in entomopathogenic nematodes applied in infected-host cadavers compared with application in aqueous suspension.

Entomopathogenic nematodes (genera Steinernema and Heterorhabditis) can control a wide variety of economically important pests (Shapiro-Ilan et al., 2002), and are generally applied in aqueous suspension through a variety of agricultural spray equipment or irrigation systems (Grewal, 2002). These nematodes have also been shown to be effective when applied in their infected-host cadavers (Creighton and Fassuliotis, 1985; Jansson et al., 1993). Compared with application in aqueous, laboratory studies have indicated application of infected cadavers can result in superior nematode dispersal (Shapiro and Glazer, 1996), infectivity (Shapiro and Lewis, 1999), and survival (Perez et al., 2003). There remains, however,