author(s)
K Kranti KVVS and Narendra Kumar Gunda

abstract
Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) of the genus Steinernema Travassos, 1927 and Heterorhabditis Poinar, 1976 are effective bio control agents for the wide variety of soil dwelling insect pests. They show better performances over chemical and microbial insecticides. But for the better performances EPNs should be adapted to the local environmental conditions. Hence the isolation and proper recognition of EPNs are decisive for the success of their use as bio pesticides. The populations of Steinernema and Heterorhabditis were isolated by ‘Galleria trap’ method from the soils around the roots of various crops from Hisar, Haryana, India. Their morphological characters and morphometrics were studied to identify whether they are new or already known species. The species identified were, S. pakistanense Shahina et al. 2001 (three populations), S. bicornutum Tallosi et al. 1995, S. siamkayai Stock et al. 1998 with some intraspecific variations from the original descriptions. Hence it was concluded that in southern Haryana soils where texture is mostly sandy or sandy loam, the occurrence of Steinernema was more compared to Heterorhabditis species.