author(s)
A Manivannan, KK Kumar, L Arul, E Kokiladevi, S Varanavasiappan, P Kalaiyarasan, S Manimegalai, K Poornima, C Devrajan, D Sudhakar and V Balasubramani

abstract
Bioefficacy of Cry55Aa protein was tested against a model nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans and tomato pests viz. Helicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera litura, Tuta absoluta and Meloidogyne incognita. When tested against Caenorhabditis elegans in lawn feeding method, 10.00 percent mortality was observed with severe inhibition of growth on surviving nematodes and live worms looked very sick and did not produce progeny. Bioassay on tomato against H. armigera, S. litura, T. absoluta showed that the Cry55Aa is not effective against these insects. When the protein was tested against root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, a decrease in Gall Index was observed. Besides, significant reduction in number of galls, number of females, number of egg mass and number of eggs per egg mass was also observed.