Ammonia concentration at emergence and its effects on the recovery of different species of entomopathogenic nematodes

Abstract The life cycle of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) occurs inside an insect cadaver and an accumulation of ammonia initiates as a consequence of the nematodes defecation. This accumulation reduces the food resources quality and creates a detrimental environment for nematodes. When a given ammonia concentration is reached, the nematodes start their emergence process, searching for a new host. In the present work, this parameter, ammonia triggering point (ATP) was measured in 7 Steinernema species/strains. The effect of different ammonia concentrations on the recovery process and their consequences in the nematodes survival were also investigated. The results indicate that ATP varies among nematode species; Steinernema glaseri showed the highest ATP of the evaluated species (1.98 ± 2.6 mg of NH 4 –N  *  g of Galleria mellonella −1 ); whereas Steinernema riobrave presented the lowest ATP (1.16 ± 0.1 mg of NH 4 –N  *  g of G. mellonella −1 ). On the other hand, the nematode emergence could be a repulsive response when ATP is reached. As the ammonia concentration increased the recovery percentage of Steinernema feltiae (Chile strain) dropped gradually from 79.4 ± 11.9% in the control treatment to 0% when 1 mg of NH 4 –N  *  ml of bacterial broth −1 was added. It is possible, that emergence process could be a repulsive response of the nematodes due to ammonia concentration when is reaching the ATP. The role of ammonia inside the insect cadavers, might suggests connections with some stages of the EPN life cycle.