Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O.Kuntze) is an industry-oriented economical crop in India. Among the sap sucking pests, tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis theivora) is one of the most serious pests causing heavy crop loss in tea plantation. Continuous use of chemical pesticides causes environmental pollution and health hazards besides developing pesticide residues in tea powder. The control of pests by bacterial metabolite is an alternative that may contribute to reduce or eliminate the chemical pesticide use. The use of chitinase as a biological control is an emerging field of research. In the present study, Chitinase (~ 25 kDa) was purified from Bacillus cereus C-13 strain using gel-filtration chromatography and further characterized for its optimum pH, temperature and substrate specificity. Bioefficacy of chitinase from B. cereus C-13 was compared with our previously reported Pseudomonas fluorescens MP-13 chitinase against H. theivora. Result concluded that, 100% and 78% mortality was observed by using P. fluorescens MP-13 chitinase and B. cereus C-13 chitinase, respectively. In future, bacterial chitinase can be utilized in eco-friendly pest management strategies.

茶（Camellia sinensis (L.) O.Kuntze）是印度的工业经济作物。在吸食树液的害虫中，茶蚊（Helopeltis theivora）是造成茶园作物损失最严重的害虫之一。持续使用化学农药除了会在茶粉中产生农药残留外，还会造成环境污染和健康危害。通过细菌代谢物控制害虫是一种替代方法，可能有助于减少或消除化学农药的使用。使用几丁质酶作为生物控制是一个新兴的研究领域。在本研究中，几丁质酶 (~ 25 kDa) 从蜡状芽孢杆菌中纯化C-13 菌株使用凝胶过滤色谱法并进一步表征其最佳 pH 值、温度和底物特异性。来自蜡状芽孢杆菌C-13的几丁质酶的生物功效与我们之前报道的 荧光假单胞菌MP-13 几丁质酶对H.theivora 的生物功效进行了比较。结果表明，使用荧光假单胞菌MP-13几丁质酶和蜡状芽孢杆菌C-13几丁质酶分别观察到100%和78%的死亡率。将来，细菌几丁质酶可用于生态友好的害虫管理策略。