Evaluation of carrier materials for formulating entomopathogenic fungus Lecanicillium Lecanii (Zimmermann) Zare and Gams

Abstract

Carrier material plays a pivotal role in maintaining the viability and virulence of an entomopathogenic fungus (EPF). Evaluation studies using sunflower oil, groundnut oil and talc as the basic carrier materials and their enrichment with chitin and chitosan, was conducted. The ideal proportion of carrier material and technical ingredient and viability were assessed based on number of colony forming units (cfu) over a period of storage of 3 months. Chitin enriched ground nut oil (GNO + Chitin) and chitin enriched sunflower (SFO + chitin) were observed as the best carriers for formulating the fungus. Ideal proportion of carrier and technical ingredient in oil formulations was found to be 65:35 per cent. The number of cfu observed with chitin enriched GNO and SFO by the end of three months of storage was 2.27 x 10 6 ml -1 and 2.20 x 10 6 ml -1 under room temperature respectively. Enrichment of oil formulations (GNO and SFO) with chitin could thus sustain viability as well as spore count of L. lecanii till the end of experimental period (three months).