In particular, a number of regions of India are actively engaged in the cultivation of grapes. In the state of Maharashtra, massive damage to the vines was discovered caused by an unknown pest. The percentage of infestations on some farms was over 70%.
Plant protection specialists from ICAR - National Research Center for Grapes, Pune, and Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi have been actively researching to develop protocols for controlling unknown pest. In the course of the work, it was found out that damage to the vineyards is caused by caterpillars of the carpenterworm. To correctly identify the selected materials, Indian colleagues turned to Roman V.Yakovlev, an expert on the world fauna of Cassidae, for help.
It turned out that the pest is Dervishiya cadambae – the carpenterworm moth, widespread in India, Pakistan and Nepal and previously noted as a serious pest of a valuable tree species – the teak tree. The fundamental interest in this situation is also due to the fact that the pest easily switched to a completely unusual culture for it - grapes.
In the course of the study, the DNA barcode for the pest was first isolated, which will help to accurately identify it in the laboratory conditions, and detailed data was given on the morphological characteristics of the species, which is important information for agricultural entomologists in the region. An effective pathogen was also found that significantly suppresses the pest - the fungus Metarhizium brunneum.
The results are published in the famous Italian journal Bulletin of Insectology, specializing in the publication of breakthrough results in the field of agricultural entomology (Yadav D.S., Mhaske S.H., Ranade Y.H., Ghule Sh.B., Shashank P.R., Yakovlev R.V. 2020. First record of occurrence of Dervishiya cadambae on grapevine, Vitis vinifera, along with its morphological and molecular identification and pathogenicity evaluation potential of Metarhizium brunneum as its biocontrol agent // Bulletin of Insectology 73 (1): 137−148). The journal is classified as Q2 by Scopus and Web of Science.
This is not the first experience of interaction between the scientist of AltSU and colleagues from subtropical regions on grape pests. So, for example, previously a team of scientists with the participation of Roman V. Yakovlev, in an Israeli gardening magazine published an article on the seasonal activity of a woodworm in Israeli vineyards (Ovadia S., Gil N., Yakovlev R., Protasov A., Mendel Z. 2016. The biology and seasonal activity of the carpenter worm Paropta paradoxa (Cossidae) in Israeli vineyards // Alon Hanotea. Vol. 70. P. 32−37).