Tropical Occurrence and Agricultural Importance of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae

Abstract

Entomopathogenic fungi are often relied on as important components of integrated pest management in tropical agriculture, either as biopesticides or as naturally occurring microbes conserved in the environment. Tropical abiotic conditions are often well-suited for microbial growth, and tropical habitats can be teeming with microbial biodiversity. However, competitive interactions with other fungi and the need to overcome defenses of hosts adapted to high fungal loads may inhibit the ability of insect pathogens to control tropical pests. Here, we review the current literature on Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae inhabiting tropical environments and their potential use as biological control agents. In some cases there is not a clear distinction between temperate and tropical agroecosystems, such as in the level of organic matter or soil texture in agricultural soils. Therefore, the effects of these soil characteristics in temperate agroecosystems are likely applicable to tropical systems as well. In contrast, factors such as microbial biodiversity and seasonal fluctuation in environmental conditions can differ dramatically between temperate and tropical systems. Therefore, we discuss literature that can be generalized to tropical systems. Where temperate and tropical systems are likely to differ we synthesize the literature specifically for tropical agroecosystems. We also provide hypotheses to stimulate future work on latitudinal gradients and the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors in governing entomopathogen prevalence and community composition. These hypotheses provide a path forward to developing theory guiding the conservation and augmentation of entomopathogenic fungi to prevent pest outbreaks.

Patterns of Occurrence and Activity of Entomopathogenic Fungi in the Algarve (Portugal) Using Different Isolation Methods

“…Fungi are the predominant natural pathogens of arthropods [ 1 ]. Hypocrealean entomopathogenic fungi (EPF), such as those in the genera Beauveria and Metarhizium , are natural inhabitants of most terrestrial ecosystems, including natural and agricultural areas [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. EPF can interact with arthropod hosts as parasites or saprophytes [ 5 ].…”

Application of Mycorrhizae and Beauveria in Organic Farming System Effectively Control Leafminers and Enhance Shallot Production

“…Remarks: Mean values ± SE within a similar column and treatments followed by the same letters are not significantly different at p < 0.01 based on HSD test. AM 0 : without mycorrhizae, AM 1 : mycorrhizae 5 g per plant, AM 2 : mycorrhizae 10 g per plant, Bb 1: B. bassiana application every 10 days, Bb 2: B. bassiana application each 5 days B. bassiana is one of the most effective entomopathogens against some group of pests including the leafminers (Devi, Padmavathi, Rao, Khan, & Mohan, 2008;McGuire & Northfield, 2020;Migiro, Maniania, Chabi-Olaye, & Vandenberg, 2010;Saleh, Anshary, & Made, 2018) but some factors such as the application technique and persistence, determined their efficacy in the fields (Jaronski, 2010). Our study revealed that 5 days interval application of B. bassiana is more effective in suppressing population and infestation of the shallots leafminer compared to 10 days interval.…”

“…Air temperature and humidity were also reported determining the efficacy of B. bassiana against lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (Zaman et al, 2020). Therefore the environmental effect should be considered when planning an integrated pest management strategy based on the application of entomopathogenic fungi such as B. bassiana and M. anisopliae (McGuire & Northfield, 2020). Both entomopathogenic fungi have high pathogenicity against leafminers of pea bean (Migiro, Maniania, Chabi-Olaye, & Vandenberg, 2010), common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris (Gathage et al, 2016), and major pests of vegetable legumes and brassicas (Srinivasan, Sevgan, Ekesi, & Tamò, 2019).…”

The Effect of Grain Type on Virulence of Entomopathogenic Fungi Against Stored Product Pests

“…Beauveria, Metarhizium and Isaria genera are listed among the most important microbial species which are used as biological control agents and which have been documented to act against a wide range of insect hosts [10,[17][18][19][20]. The fungal species which have been the most studied for their action against stored product insect pests and which have produced promising results are Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae), Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschinkoff) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) and Isaria fumosorosea Wize (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) [9,[21][22][23][24][25].…”