The pathogenicity of two isolates of Beauveria bassiana and 12 of Metarhizium anisopliae towards adult fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata and Ceratitis rosa var. fasciventris was tested in the laboratory. Fruit flies were exposed to dry conidia evenly spread on velvet material covering the inner side of a cylindrical plastic tube. All isolates tested were pathogenic to both species of fruit flies. Mortality ranged from 7 to 100% in C. capitata and from 11.4 to 100% in C. rosa var. fasciventris at 4 days post-inoculation. Six isolates, M. anisopliae ICIPE 18, 20, 32, 40, 41 and 62, were highly pathogenic to both C. capitata and C. rosa var. fasciventris. The LT90 values of the most pathogenic isolates ranged between 3-4 days in both insects. Because of the difficulties in rearing C. cosyra, only the isolates that were highly pathogenic to both C. rosa var. fasciventris and C. capitata were tested against adult C. cosyra. They caused mortality of between 72-78% at 4 days post-inoculation. The LT90 values in all the isolates did not exceed 4 days. One of the most pathogenic isolates, M. anisopliae ICIPE 20, was evaluated against C. capitata and C. rosa var. fasciventris in cage experiments using three autoinoculators (maize cob, cheesecloth and Petri dish) in an autoinoculative device consisting of plastic mineral bottle. Mortality of between 70-93% was observed in flies of both species that were captured from the cages and held under laboratory conditions. These results indicate the possibility of fruit fly suppression with entomopathogenic fungi using an autoinoculative device.
The effect of temperature on conidial germination, mycelial growth, and susceptibility of adults of three tephritid fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), C. fasciventris (Bezzi) and C. cosyra (Walker) to six isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae were studied in the laboratory. There were significant differences among the isolates in the effect of temperature on both germination and growth. Over 80% of conidia germinated at 20, 25 and 30 • C, while between 26 and 67% conidia germinated at 35 • C and less than 10% at 15 • C within 24 hours. Radial growth was slow at 15 • C and 35 • C with all of the isolates. The optimum temperature for germination and mycelial growth was 25 • C. Mortality caused by the six fungal isolates against the three fruit fly species varied with temperature, isolate, and fruit fly species. Fungal isolates were more effective at 25, 30 and 35 • C than at 20 • C. The LT 90 values decreased with increasing temperature up to the optimum temperature of 30 • C. There were significant differences in susceptibility between fly species to fungal infection at all the temperatures tested.
This chapter discusses the biological control of fruit flies infesting Mango in Africa. The use of entomopathogens, parasitoids and chemical signals that modify pest behaviour is discussed.
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