author(s)
Chhavi Kaushik and AK Chaubey

abstract
In the present study, we undertook laboratory investigations on the effect of temperature exposure (ranging from 5-45 ⁰C for 72 h treatment) on survival and infectivity of isolates of Steinernema species, which were recovered from Meerut and Ghaziabad regions of Western Uttar Pradesh, India. The study was conducted to find out the temperature tolerant isolate, which can withstand the semi-arid and sub- tropical climatic conditions of western Uttar Pradesh. Biochemical characterization of 4 temperature tolerant isolates of Steinernema was undertaken, on the basis of isozymic profiles of esterase and catalase. The isozymic patterns of esterase of 4 isolates of Steinernema species by mini slab gel polyacrylamide electrophoresis revealed species specific enzyme phenotypes for CCS-EPN-14S, CCS- EPN-30S and CCS-EPN-53S characterized by having two, one and three species-specific bands respectively. Isozyme profiles of catalase also revealed species-specific phenotypes with one band at Rf 0.24 for the strain CCS-EPN-13S, at Rf 0.31 for the strain CCS-EPN-14S, at Rf 0.29 for strain CCS- EPN-30S and at Rf 0.34 for the strain CCS-EPN-53S.