ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI FROM PAKISTAN AS POTENTIAL BIOCONTROL AGAINST APHID

Abstract

Rose is a versatile plant with varying colors and fragrant flowers. This study was conducted to assess the biocontrol efficacy of various indigenous entomopathogenic fungi from Pakistan in controlling aphid collected from different plants and reared in the lab. Different concentrations (1×105, 1×106, 1×107, 1×108 and 1×109 conidia mL-1) of four fungal species namely Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anixpoli, M. attenuatum and Verticillium lecani were applied on aphids by means of filter paper technique. The highest aphid mortality was due to B. bassiana and M. anixpoli. The later fungal species caused up to 84% aphid mortality after 72 hours incubation period. The minimum lethal time (LT), LT50 and LT90 values for B. bassiana were 71.69 and 149.7 days, respectively, while the lowest lethal concentration (LC), LC50 and LC90 values were 8.6 × 108 and 8.7 × 1010 conidia mL-1 at 72 hours. In case of M. anixpoli, the minimum LT50 and LT90 values were 76.02 and 150.02 days, , and the minimum LC50 and LC90 values were 1.0×106 and 2.23×1013 conidia mL-1, respectively. This study demonstrates that M. anixpoli and B. bassiana can be used as effective biocontrol agents against aphids in Pakistan.