Penicillum oxalicum spg1: A novel entomopathogenic fungus isolated from mummified Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) of cotton

Abstract

Whitefly has assumed the status of a serious pest of cotton in north India in recent past due to its severe attack on cotton crop. The productivity of cotton crop has fallen substantially from 574 kg ha -1 of lint in the year 2014 -15 to 197 kg ha -1 in the year 2015-16 in Punjab. During extensive epidemiological surveillance of whitefly on cotton crop in the month of September 2016, mummified whiteflies with fungus were noticed on both abaxial and adaxial surfaces of leaves of the infested cotton plant at village, Mandi Khurd, Mansa District of Punjab, India and at Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Bathinda, India. The fungus was isolated and purified from the mummified white fly and characterized at molecular level by sequencing 633 bp D2 region of Large Subunit (LSU) rRNA gene and identified as Penicillium oxalicum spg1. The gene sequence has been submitted to NCBI, USA with accession no. KY214238. The microscopic studies (stereo-and scanning electron) of the cotton leaves with mummified whitefly further strengthen the entomopathogenic potential of P. oxalicum spg1. There are few reports of entomopathogenic potential of P. oxalicum spg1 against other insects and pests. To our knowledge, this is the first report of isolation and identification of P. oxalicum spg1 from mummified white fly. It's potential as a biocontrol agent against white fly can be exploited in a promising way with nominal interference with biological equilibrium.

Antifertility Potential of n-Butanol and Ethyl Acetate Extracts of Penicillium oxalicum OM282858 in Male Albino Rats as Biological Control Agents

“…These substances are used in several biocontrol methods, such as antibacterial, antifungal (Lucas et al 2007;Yang et al 2008), and insecticidal agents (Santamarina et al 2002). Therefore, it is recommended as a biocontrol technique against various pests or plant pathogens (Kataria et al 2018).…”

Diversity of entomopathogenic fungi from soils of eucalyptus and soybean crops and natural forest areas

“…The Beauveria, Cordyceps, and Metarhizium genera, with registered commercial products (Brasil, 2022), are the most suitable to formulate and produce mycoinsecticides, due to their greater safety for human health and entomopathogenic potential (Zimmermann, 2007a, b;Chen et al, 2020). The use of these entomopathogenic agents should be evaluated because the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, and Purpureocillium include entomopathogenic species (Kataria et al, 2018;Ahmad et al, 2019;Sun et al, 2021), but also some with mycotoxins that can be pathogenic to humans (Antas et al, 2012;Mendonça et al, 2009;Li et al, 2020).…”