In vitro Efficacy of Verticillium lecanii and Beauveria bassiana of Commercial Source Against Cattle Tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus

Abstract

T icks are an important threat to livestock due to either their direct effect or their role as tick-borne diseases. The ticks control is commonly by using chemical products, which has several side effects. Therefore, using biological control agents has become urgent and safe alternative to reduce and to avoid these adverse effects (Samish et al., 2004; Reis-Menini et al., 2008). Entomopathogenic fungi were commonly used in pest control of crops and forest pests (Kaaya et al., 1996). Recently, great attention is being paid to these fungi in control of arthropods borne disease of human and animals. These fungi can infect and often kill ticks and therefore can be used in ticks control (Gindin et al., 2001). Beauveria bassiana and Lecanicillium lecanii (=Verticillium lecanii) are among the most important species infecting ixoidid ticks in nature and different strains of B. bassiana are pathogenic to different kinds of tick (Fernandes et al., 2012; Camargo et al., 2012; Ren et al., 2016). The efficacy of used the fungi depend on the tick species and population and the fungal strain (Fernandes et al., 2012; Campos et al., 2010; Sun et al., 2011; Perinotto et al., 2012). The biopesticide that contains B. bassiana (Balsamo, Vuillemin) is used to control flies on animal species (balEnce), and against crop pests' greenhouses and food crops (Met52) (Gonzalez et al., 2016).While, Lecanicillium lecanii (Zimmermann) Gams research Article Abstract | Two entomopathogenic fungi, Verticillium lecanii and Beauveria bassiana, were tested against Rhipicephalusannulatus. Mycotal® was the source of Verticillium lecanii while Biosect® was the source of Beauveria bassiana. Five concentrations (1×10 7 , 5×10 8 , 2.5×10 9 , 1×10 10 and 4×10 10 spore/ml) of Verticillium lecanii as well as five different concentrations (5×10 7 , 2×10 8 , 8×10 9, 3.2×10 10 and 12.8x10 10 /ml) of Beauveria bassiana were prepared and tested against adult female tick, eggs and larvae. The mortality in adult ticks was 60.60 to 72.00% after 2 weeks of application for V. lecanii at concentration ≥ 5x10 8 spore/ml, while B. bassiana showed no mortality at any concentrations. The treated tick revealed nutritional index significantly lower than control untreated one for both fungi. Furthermore, V. lecanii showed no effect on eggs, while, B. bassiana delayed and reduced the egg hatching. In addition, both fungi caused 100% mortality of larvae. The effective concentration was ≥ 10 8 spore/ml for both fungi with no significant difference among the highest concentrations. Moreover, the fungal extract had no effect on adult tick. In conclusion, V. lecanii is lethal to adult tick and B. bassiana caused larvae mortality and reduced egg hatching. A prospective application of fungi of commercial source in the pasture or animal farm is possible for tick control.

Evaluating Mosquito Biocontrol Effectiveness by Isolating and Characterizing Some Fungi Against Culex Pipiens and Anopheles Stephensi in Sothern Part of Iraq

“…(Šebesta et al, 2022). non-target effects V. lecanii is a suspended fungus that contains enzymes that help the fungus penetrate the shell of insect eggs and cause the death of the embryos inside it (Damialis et al, 2015), while another study (Aboelhadid et al, 2018), confirmed that exposing Rhipicephalus annulatus eggs to V. lecanii spores at a concentration of 1*10 1 spore/ml did not significantly affect the hatching rate of these eggs. A study (Abdullah et al, 2009) indicated that exposing the eggs of C. pipiens of B. bassiana spores at a concentration of 3*10 5 spore/ml led to all of them being destroyed, as for study used C. quinquefasciatus and A. pulcharhimus (Al-Karawi and Hanaa, 2012), showing that the treatment of eggs C. quinquefasciatus and A. pulcharhimus pylori spores of L. lundbergii led to their mortality by 56% and 59.33%, respectively, at a concentration of 3 *10 7 spore/ml.…”

ACARICIDAL ACTIVITY OF COMBINED COMMERCIAL STRAINS OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI AGAINST Amblyomma mixtum AND Rhipicephalus microplus TICKS

“…Studies have shown that combinations of entomopathogenic fungi isolated from soil or bought from a commercial source are potential pathogens for use in the control of ticks (Szczepańska et al, 2020, Aboelhadid et al, 2018, Ren et al, 2016. Thus, in this study, we examined the in vitro acaricidal effectiveness of combined commercial strains Esporomax ® (B. bassiana, M. anisopliae and P. fumosoroseus) and Trishok ® (T. harzianaum and T. virens).…”

Fungi and Oomycetes–Allies in Eliminating Environmental Pathogens

“…Depending on the evolutionary stage, the action of certain fungi is different. Eggs are the most sensitive and nymphs are the most resistant [115,116]. A high ovicidal action against Boophilus microplus eggs were observed in Verticillium lecanii (strains LBV-2 and LBV-1) and lower in Beauveria bassiana [117].…”