Patents

The present invention deals with an enzyme composition usefUl for control of infestation of woolly aphid (Ceretovacuna lanigerd) and sooty mould (Capnodium sp.) on sugarcane plants. Sugarcane woolly aphid has become the serious pest all over India. The woolly aphid multiplies profusely and desaps the foliage heavily and excretes honey dew like substances which favors the multiplication of sooty mould which results in drying of the leaves and ultimately loss in the yield and sugar recovery. Various commercial preparations have been used for the control of woolly aphid includes natural enemies and chemical pesticide. But all the above control measures are not found to be effective to control woolly aphid. The enzyme composition in the present invention as obtained from Myrothecium verrucaria, a deuteromycetes fungus, degrades both insect cuticle and fungal cell wall and is found to be effective in the control of woolly aphid infestation of sugarcane in laboratory as well as under field conditions and it also inhibits the growth of sooty mould.