{"id":5341,"date":"2026-08-13T11:16:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cognitionconferences.com\/agriculture\/?post_type=speaker&#038;p=5341"},"modified":"2026-08-13T11:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:16:20","slug":"shabalala-ntokozo-carol","status":"publish","type":"speaker","link":"https:\/\/cognitionconferences.com\/agriculture\/speaker\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\/","title":{"rendered":"Shabalala Ntokozo Carol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Abstract\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Ceratitis capitata<\/em>\u00a0(Mediterranean fruit fly) is a globally significant pest causing major yield losses and trade restrictions in fruit production. Although native entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) from South African soils offer potential for sustainable pest control, their efficacy against\u00a0<em>C. capitata<\/em>\u00a0remains poorly understood. This study evaluated two indigenous EPN isolates,\u00a0<em>Steinernema jeffreyense<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Heterorhabditis bacteriophora<\/em>, against larval and pupal stages of\u00a0<em>C. capitata<\/em>\u00a0under laboratory conditions. Larvae were exposed to 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 IJs\/50 \u00b5L, while pupae received 0, 100, 150, 200, and 250 IJs\/50 \u00b5L. Both trials used 2 \u00d7 5 factorial designs with five replications and were repeated twice. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA in Statistix 10, with means separated by Tukey&#8217;s HSD test (\u03b1 = 0.05). Variables measured included mortality, mortality speed, infectivity, and pupation rate. No significant interaction between EPN species and concentration was observed in the larval trial, whereas the pupal trial showed highly significant interactions for all variables. Both species caused concentration-dependent mortality, with\u00a0<em>H. bacteriophora<\/em>\u00a0consistently outperforming\u00a0<em>S. jeffreyense<\/em>. Interestingly, the highest larval mortality occurred at the lowest concentration tested (25 IJs), while significant pupal mortality was only achieved at the highest concentration (250 IJs). These findings demonstrate that\u00a0<em>H. bacteriophora<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>S. jeffreyense<\/em>\u00a0are promising biological control candidates against\u00a0<em>C. capitata<\/em>. However, field validation, assessment of nematode persistence across soil types, and formulation improvements are necessary to translate these laboratory results into practical, sustainable fruit fly management strategies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Carol Shabalala is an MSc candidate in Entomology at the University of Mpumalanga. She holds a BSc Honours degree, and her research focuses on native entomopathogenic nematodes for sustainable fruit fly management. She attended a nematode short course at Stellenbosch University (2025) and has presented at the One Health International Conference (Bucharest) and the Sustainability Symposium (UMP, 2026). She was an exhibitor at the Penreach STEAM Festival 2026 in Mbombela and tutors all Entomology modules at UMP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5342,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"schedule":[5],"speaker-category":[6],"class_list":["post-5341","speaker","type-speaker","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schedule-day-1","speaker-category-speakers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shabalala Ntokozo Carol | University of Mpumalanga | South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cognitionconferences.com\/agriculture\/speaker\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shabalala Ntokozo Carol | University of Mpumalanga | South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abstract\u00a0 Ceratitis capitata\u00a0(Mediterranean fruit fly) is a globally significant pest causing major yield losses and trade restrictions in fruit production. Although native entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) from South African soils offer potential for sustainable pest control, their efficacy against\u00a0C. capitata\u00a0remains poorly understood. This study evaluated two indigenous EPN isolates,\u00a0Steinernema jeffreyense\u00a0and\u00a0Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, against larval and pupal stages [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cognitionconferences.com\/agriculture\/speaker\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cognition Conferences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cognitionconferences.com\/agriculture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Shabalala-Ntokozo-Carol.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/\",\"name\":\"Shabalala Ntokozo Carol | University of Mpumalanga | South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Shabalala-Ntokozo-Carol.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-13T11:16:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Shabalala-Ntokozo-Carol.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Shabalala-Ntokozo-Carol.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":240},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/speaker\\\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shabalala Ntokozo Carol\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cognition Conferences\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cognitionconferences.com\\\/agriculture\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shabalala Ntokozo Carol | University of Mpumalanga | South Africa","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cognitionconferences.com\/agriculture\/speaker\/shabalala-ntokozo-carol\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shabalala Ntokozo Carol | University of Mpumalanga | South Africa","og_description":"Abstract\u00a0 Ceratitis capitata\u00a0(Mediterranean fruit fly) is a globally significant pest causing major yield losses and trade restrictions in fruit production. 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