20.500.12556/RUL-166216 Chemotactic responses of Oscheius myriophilus to mollusk mucus Terrestrial slugs and snails can significantly harm agriculture. Due to environmental concerns associated with chemical molluscicides, biological control methods are increasingly being explored. Oscheius myriophilus (Poinar, 1986), a nematode species recently discovered in association with Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855, holds promise as a biocontrol agent for gastropod pests. In this study, we investigated the chemotactic response and motility of O. myriophilus when exposed to the mucus of five mollusk species: Helix pomatia Linnaeus, 1758, Cernuella virgata (Da Costa, 1778), Deroceras reticulatum Müller, 1774, A. vulgaris, and Tandonia budapestensis Hazay, 1880. Our experiments were conducted at two temperatures (20 °C and 25 °C) to assess how environmental conditions influence nematode behavior. The results demonstrated that the chemoattractiveness of mollusk mucus to O. myriophilus was significantly influenced by both the species of mollusk and the temperature. Overall, nematode motility was higher at 20 °C than at 25 °C, indicating that lower temperatures may enhance the activity of O. myriophilus. Among the tested mollusk species, C. virgata mucus consistently attracted the highest number of nematodes, especially at the lower temperature. Our findings indicate that the chemotactic response of O. myriophilus to mollusk mucus may have potential for the targeted biocontrol of pest mollusks. While C. virgata demonstrated strong attractant potential at the tested temperatures, particularly under cooler conditions (20 °C), further research is needed to confirm whether this represents a consistent temperature-related effect. Future studies should aim to identify the specific chemical cues in mollusk mucus that trigger nematode attraction and examine how these signals interact with a broader range of environmental variables, including temperature, to influence nematode behavior. chemotaxis behavior Spanish slug gray field slug Roman snail common white snail Budapest keeled slug attractants biocontrol Oscheius myriophilus kemotaksija Oscheius myriophilus polži atraktanti biotično varstvo rastlin true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2024-12-24 12:36:31 2024-12-24 12:36:34 2024-12-25 03:50:19 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2024 0 0 11 str. iss. 12, art. 3049 Vol. 14 2024 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 632 2073-4395 10.3390/agronomy14123049 220355075 agronomy-14-03049.pdf agronomy-14-03049.pdf 1 342C17A12A9147389D0B51C1511EAA8C 8e9d77e9fd8acdefd6a526f00513da5e4a4c350d0f30819c81ead5e1223a00c7 0ebd9284-c1eb-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=197662 https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/12/3049 1 b74b0ad6-c1ea-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=197661 Biotehniška fakulteta 0 0 0