Pathogenicity of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana fungi to Tetranychus ludeni (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Abstract

The use of acaricides is the main control method for Tetranychus ludeni (Acari: Tetranychidae) in horticultural crops. This mite has been recorded causing damage to sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.). The use of pathogenic fungi is an alternative to chemical control. The objective was to evaluate the pathogenicity of the fungi Metarhizium anisopliae (Meetch) Sorok, and Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill. to phytophagous mite T. ludeni in sweet potato plants. Conidial suspensions of M. anisopliae and B. bassiana, at concentrations of 106 and 107 con.mL-1 were applied to sweet potato leaves. After 24 hours, five females of T. ludeni newly emerged were released on the leaves. The bioassay was arranged in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement 2 × 2 (two species of fungi and two concentrations) plus the control (distilled water), with 10 repetitions per treatment. The evaluation consisted of observing of three biological parameters of the mite: mortality, oviposition, and repellency, after 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours of contact with the fungi. The isolates of M. anisopliae cause high mortality rates of T. ludeni in laboratory. Beauveria bassiana has the potential to suppress future generations of mite, reducing its oviposition rate. Repellency behavior was not observed.

Encapsulation of Beauveria bassiana in Polysaccharide-Based Microparticles: A Promising Carrier System for Biological Control Applications

“…Notably, both experiments were conducted under realistic conditions, and the greenhouse setting provided better control over temperature and humidity. These findings are consistent with Pereira et al, who reported less than 30% of mortality for different concentrations of B. bassiana against T.…”

“…Notably, both experiments were conducted under realistic conditions, and the greenhouse setting provided better control over temperature and humidity. These findings are consistent with Pereira et al, 44 who reported less than 30% of mortality for different concentrations of B. bassiana against T. ludeni Zacher (Acari: Tetranychidae) under laboratory conditions at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h post-application. The authors also found that B. bassiana reduced the oviposition rate, which was not explored in the present study.…”

Effect of relative humidity on the efficacy of entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana-based mycopesticide against red spider mite Tetranychus macfarlanei

“…B. bassiana Naturalis-L reduced around 97% of T. urticae population in a tomato greenhouse when applied at a rate of 1×10 8 conidia/ml (Chandler et al 2005). It has been reported that B. bassiana has the potential to suppress future generations of Tetranychus ludeni Zacher by reducing its oviposition rate (Pereira et al 2019).…”

Are social native bees affected by fungal-based biopesticides?

“…It is detected at many places worldwide, predominantly isolated from soil environments (Meyling, Thorup-Kristensen and Eilenberg, 2011). It is used as mycoinsecticides for different pest species in crops, such as in rice (Peng et al, 2021), horticulture (Castro, Eilenberg and Delalibera, 2018;Pereira et al, 2019), and sugar cane . One of the first successfully inundative widespread pest biocontrol programs was the use of M. anisopliae to control the spittlebug Mahanarva fimbriolata (Stål), and the borer Diatraea saccharalis Guenée .…”