مشخصات پژوهش

Impacts of storage on the shelf life of an Iranian Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus talc-based formulation under five sets of storage conditions has been evaluated in room temperature (25-33°C) as well as refrigerated condition (3±2°C) over the time. Monthly bioassays were conducted with all the treatments against early second instars larvae of H. armigera. Results showed that the LC50 values increased gradually with time in all the cases. The talc-based wettable powder formulation packed with nitrogen under vacuum had the lowest LC50 value after 6 months of storage under both temperature conditions. Also, the lowest LT50 value was seen in virus stored as unformulated suspension at refrigerated condition after 6 months of storage (154.3 hours), whereas, it was the highest (173.6 hours) when the unformulated virus was stored at room temperature. The present study revealed the compatibility of the talc-based formulation with nitrogen under vacuum condition in both the temperatures showing storage of the formulation could effectively delay the virus inactivation. This would be crucial to marketing flexibility and timely supply of good quality products.