A bioassay procedure was developed to assess the toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein against Meloidogyne hapla,a root-knot nematode,under laboratory conditions.Reproducibility and precision of the bioassay results were optimal when forty 2nd stage juveniles were incubated in the dissolved crystal protein solution at 25℃,pH9.0 for 7 days.The juveniles were stained with 1% KMnO4 for 2 hours or methylene blue solution for 1 hour to distinguish living and dead ones.By the bioassay procedure,the LC50 value of strain YBT-1532 crystal protein against M.hapla was determined as 0.304±0.086 mg/mL(LC50±1.96SE).Moreover,the strain YBT-1532 showed toxicity to Caenorhabditis elegans,a free-living nematode.All results indicated that YBT-1532 is a toxic strain to plant-parasitic nematode,and has the potential to control plant-parasitic nematode.
