Biological and physiological studies on the effect of some botanical oils and gamma irradiation on the Greasy Cut Worm Agrotis Ipsilon (HUF)

The greasy cut worm, Agrotis ipsilon ( Lepidoptera-Noctuidae ) is a serious pest for the seedlings of most crops such as cotton, maize, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, chinese broccoli, chinese cabbage, Chinese spinach, corn, eggplant, flowering white cabbage, green beans, head cabbage, lettuce, mustard cabbage, potato, spinach, sugarcane, sweet potato, tomato, turnip, as well as many other plants. An extensive listing of hosts of the greasy cutworm may be found in (Rings et al. 1975). The extensive and continuous use of synthetic pesticides in control of agricultural pests have created many problems, one of them is the incapability of toxic agents in controlling the target pests at the recommended doses. Therefore, it was of great interest to investigate some alternative methods as substitutes for insecticides in the control of this pest. Among these methods, is the irradiation, plant extracts and oils. Irradiation techniques seem to offer solutions that are desirable in many aspects, contributing that this treatment should eventually prove to be cheaper, safer and more reliable than chemical control. Irradiation shortens life span of insects (Baxter and Blair, 1969), possibly by accelerating senescence (Aly et al., 1996). Irradiation may also cause protein denaturation, which may impair enzyme activity (Ljubenov and Andreev, 1974) and (Tribe and Webb, 1979 a, b, c). According to (Kinipling, 1955), insect exposure to ionizing radiation causes sterilization through induction of dominates lethal mutation in the genetic structure of organisms. This technique to be successful control device for suppressing and combating many lepidopteraus insect pests, including Agrotis ipsilon has been studied