Effect of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae on the growth of Spodoptera frugiperda by seed inoculation

Abstract

Abstract. Sari JMP, Herlinda S, Suwandi S, Elfita. 2023. Effect of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae on the growth of Spodoptera frugiperda by seed inoculation. Biodiversitas 24: 2350-2357. Spodoptera frugiperda J.E.Smith 1797 larvae are more difficult to control because they hide in the leaf sheaths. Therefore, it is necessary to use endophytic entomopathogenic fungi to control S. frugiperda larva. The aim of this research was to observe the effect of endophytic Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorok?n on the growth of S. frugiperda larvae by seed inoculation. A total of six isolates of B. bassiana (5 isolates) and M. anisopliae (1 isolate) were isolated from infected-host insect corpses and identified molecularly. The corn seeds were immersed using a fungal suspension of 1 x 1010 conidia mL-1. The results showed that feeding on maize leaves colonized with B. bassiana (JGTP240521A, WTTJC260521A, WTTJC290521A, WTTJC290521B, and JGNT300521 isolates) and M. anisopliae (WTTJC260521B isolate) significantly reduced the larval and pupal weight. The highest mortality (above 50%) of S. frugiperda larvae was recorded by B. bassiana (JGTP240521A isolate) . The treated larvae could produce abnormal and malformation pupae and adults, increasing mortality. Both fungi killed the larvae and induced disruption of normal growth larvae, pupae, and adults of S. frugiperda. B. bassiana was more pathogenic than M. anisopliae in killing the larvae of S. frugiperda. Results revealed that endophytic fungi B. bassiana and M. anisopliae inoculated through seed treatment had a negative impact on the growth of S. frugiperda larvae. Further studies are needed on the effect of B. bassiana and M. anisopliae by foliar spraying or seed treatment on maize plant to control S. frugiperda in the field.

Effect of endophytic entomopathogenic fungal conidia and blastospores induced in maize plants by seed inoculation on Spodoptera frugiperda immune response and mortality

“…The corpse's body can grow and appear as sexual ascospores and asexual conidia (Boomsma et al 2014), and the fungi can induce mycosis (Russo et al 2020). The symptoms of mycosis in the corpse's body in this present study were similar to the symptoms from the previous studies; the corpses became hardened, stiffened, dry, shriveled, and covered with mycelium and spores of fungus Lestari et al 2022;Sari et al 2023).…”

“…The previous study showed that the larvae began to die 3-4 days after the neonate larvae treated with endophytic B. bassiana and M. anisopliae (Sari et al 2023). The fungal spores cause dead larvae through hyphae of the endophytic fungus to enter orally, and the fungi infect through the intestinal epithelium (Boomsma et al 2014).…”

“…Finally, seeds were grown in a hydroponic medium and incubated for 14 days (Novianti et al 2020). The tip leaves of 14-day-old maize were cut to 5 × 5 mm 2 to be grown onto the SDA medium to detect the mycelia of the endophytic EPF colonized the maize leaves, following the Sari et al (2023) method.…”

“…From previous explorations in 2021, 20 isolates of endophytic EPF isolated from plants in South Sumatra were confirmed as endophytes (Herlinda et al 2021) and have the potential to kill S. frugiperda larvae ). The endophytic EPF can produce conidia and blastospores when cultured in broth medium (Sari et al 2023); however, the pathogenicity of the conidia and blastospores inoculated in plants on S. frugiperda larvae is unknown. There is no information about the response of S. frugiperda larvae that consume leaves inoculated with the endophytic EPF from South Sumatra.…”

The potency of fungal entomopathogens isolated from Spodoptera frugiperda as endophytic plant-growth promoter

“…From previous surveys in 2021, we found 20 entomopathogenic fungal isolates isolated from plants that were confirmed to be endophytes [7], and the fungi also had the potential to kill fall armyworm or Spodoptera frugiperda larvae and cause deformed pupae and adults in pest management [8]. Similarly, entomopathogenic fungi isolated from lepidopteran carcasses have been confirmed to be endophytic and capable of killing S. frugiperda larvae and adversely affecting pest development [9,10]. However, whether these endophytic fungi can cause the host plants to grow is not yet known.…”