author(s)
S Anu Shobiya, N Balakrishnan, L Allwin and KG Sabarinathan

abstract
Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Noctuidae, Lepidoptera) causes economic losses in maize in India, since 2018. Microbial control, especially Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), plays an important role in integrated pest management programme. During the survey of FAW in maize, Bt infected FAW larvae were collected in K. Alangulam village, Kuruvikulam block, Tenkasi district, Tamil Nadu, India and brought to the laboratory. Bt was isolated from the infected larvae and cultured in T₃ medium. The colonies were circular in shape with serrated margin and creamy white in colour. The colonies had umbonate elevation and produced cuboidal shaped crystals. While screening the Bt isolate with lepidopteran toxic cry genes i.e., cry1, cry2Aa, cry2Ab, cry9 and vip3A genes by PCR, it showed the presence of cry2Aa gene. SDS PAGE analysis showed the presence of Cry2 crystal protein with the molecular weight of ~65 kDa. Bioassay studies with the spore-crystal mixture of the isolate exhibited 70 per cent mortality against maize fall armyworm, S. frugiperda.