Abstract

The olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, is the key pest on olives in the Mediterranean area. The pest can destroy, in some cases, up to 70% of the olive production. Its control relies mainly on chemical treatments, sometimes applied by aircraft over vast areas, with their subsequent ecological and toxicological side effects. Bacillus thuringiensis is a spore-forming soil bacterium which produces a protein crystal toxic to some insects, including the orders of Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera and other invertebrates. The aim of this study was to search for isolates toxic to B. oleae. Several hundred B. thuringiensis isolates were obtained from olive groves and olive presses in different areas of Greece, Sardinia (Italy), and Spain and from cooperating scientists throughout the world. Some isolates were found toxic only to adults or larvae and some to both stages of the olive fly. In addition, the most toxic isolates were assayed on Opius concolor Szepl. (Hym. Braconidae), the most important parasitoid of the olive fruit fly. Only 3 isolates out of 14 gave significant mortality against this parasitoid. Several of the most toxic crystalliferous isolates may contain novel toxins since they gave no PCR products when probed with primers specified for 39 known toxin genes.

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