scholarly journals Entomopathogenic fungi as a promising biological control agent against banana fruit scarring beetle, Basilepta subcostata (Jac.) (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera)

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Velavan Viswakethu ◽  
Padmanaban Balakrishanan ◽  
Loganathan Murugan ◽  
Baskar Narayana swamy ◽  
Uma Subbaraya

Abstract Background Banana fruit scarring beetle (BFSB), Basilepta subcostata (Jac.) (Chrysomelidae:Coleoptera), is an important insect pest feeds on leaf and fingers, which affects the cosmetic value of the fruit. The pest is distributed in Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and North-eastern Hill regions of India. Results The pest is currently managed by foliar spray with insecticides. In order to identify eco-friendly control of the pest, attempts were made to isolate microbial agent and evaluate their potential to control the pest. A total of 27 entomopathogenic fugal isolates were obtained from Odoiporus longicollis (Oliver), Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar), Basilepta subcostata (Jac), and other insect Galleria mellonella (Fabr). Based on colony morphology, the collected fungal isolates were identified as Metarhizium spp. (17) and Beauveria spp. (10). Through ITS sequencing, the fungal isolates were further characterized at species level as B. bassiana (8), B. brongniartii (2), M. anisopliae (8), M. robertsii (6), M. guizhouense (2), and M. pinghaense (1). Their sequences were submitted in GenBank and obtained accession numbers. Among 27 isolates tested against B. subcostata under laboratory conditions, 3 isolates (M. anisopliae NRCBEPF-36, M. pinghaense NRCBEPF-7 and B. brongniartii NRCBEPF-27) recorded 100% beetle mortality, followed by 11 isolates with 95–99% and 13 isolates with 88–93% within 8 days of treatment. Conclusion This study highlights the two native North East India isolates B. brongniartii NRCBEPF-27 (MT151781) and M. anisopliae NRCBEPF-36 (MT140308) showed the significance to use as potential biocontrol agents against banana fruit scarring beetle B. subcostata. Further experiments under field conditions are required to evaluate their biological control efficacy against the pest.

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 258-262
Author(s):  
B. Smith ◽  
S.G. Casonato ◽  
A. Noble ◽  
G. Bourd?t

Californian thistle (Cirsium arvense) is a problematic weed particularly in permanent pastures The fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum has potential as a bioherbicide to control this weed but its variable efficacy in historical field trials suggest that there are differences in susceptibility to S sclerotiorum within the species To test this hypothesis the responses of 32 New Zealand provenances of C arvense to a foliageapplied myceliumonbarley preparation of S sclerotiorum were compared under common conditions Significant differences between provenances were found supporting the hypothesis that there is variation within C arvense in New Zealand in its susceptibility to S sclerotiorum Further work will examine differences in the efficacy of fungal isolates against different C arvense provenances


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 730-742
Author(s):  
Manish Dhawan ◽  
◽  
Neelam Joshi ◽  
Samandeep Kaur ◽  
Saroop Sandhu ◽  
...  

Intensive crop production and extensive use of harmful synthetic chemical pesticides create numerous socio-economic problems worldwide. Therefore, sustainable solutions are needed for insect pest control, such as biological control agents. The fungal insect pathogen Beauveria bassiana has shown considerable potential as a biological control agent against a broad range of insects. The insight into the virulence mechanism of B. bassiana is essential to show the robustness of its use. B. bassiana has several determinants of virulence, including the production of cuticle-degrading enzymes (CDEs), such as proteases, chitinases, and lipases. CDEs are essential in the infection process as they hydrolyze the significant components of the insect's cuticle. Moreover, B. bassiana has evolved effective antioxidant mechanisms that include enzyme families that act as reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers, e.g., superoxide dismutases, catalases, peroxidases, and thioredoxins. In B. bassiana, the number of CDEs and antioxidant enzymes are characterized in recent years. These enzymes are believed to be crucial player of evolutionary process in this organism and their role in various mechanism of biological control. Recent discoveries have significantly increased our potential understanding on several potentially wanted unknown mechanisms of B. bassiana infection. This review focuses on the progress detailed in the studies of these enzymes and provides an overview of enzymatic activities and their contributions to virulence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 117954331882525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apolline Sanou ◽  
Fousséni Traoré ◽  
Malick Niango Ba ◽  
Clémentine L Dabiré-Binso ◽  
Barry R Pittendrigh ◽  
...  

The egg parasitoid Gryon fulviventre is a potential biological control agent of Clavigralla tomentosicollis, a coreid pod-sucking pest of Vigna unguiculata. The host location behavior of naive parasitoid females was studied using a four-armed olfactometer. Two strains of G. fulviventre parasitoids from Burkina Faso and Benin were exposed to odors provided by healthy and infested pods as well as C. tomentosicollis females and males. The time spent in each odor zone was recorded to determine the preference of parasitoid females. Results show that odors from healthy pods, infested pods, and pest females did not attract the parasitoid. However, a significantly attractive response of both strains of G. fulviventre was recorded in the presence of volatiles from males of C. tomentosicollis. Moreover, experiments testing G. fulviventre females’ behavior when simultaneously exposed to volatiles from cowpea pods (healthy and infested) and increasing numbers of C. tomentosicollis males revealed a significantly higher attraction of parasitoid females of both strains by volatiles from ten males of C. tomentosicollis. The results suggest that the males of the insect pest emit a pheromone used as kairomone by parasitoids to locate their host. The conditions determining this attractiveness at field level and its impact on host-searching efficiency are discussed.


Author(s):  
Tabea Allen ◽  
Marc Kenis ◽  
Lindsey Norgrove

AbstractThe fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, an American Lepidoptera, is invasive in Africa and Asia and currently one of the most damaging cereal pests in the tropics. The ichneumonid parasitoid, Eiphosoma laphygmae, is a potential classical biological control agent. We assessed existing knowledge on biology, identified natural distributions, collated reported parasitism rates from field studies and determined which other parasitoids co-occurred. We discussed the suitability of E. laphygmae for classical biological control as well as identified limitations and knowledge gaps. We conducted a systematic literature review and had 185 hits, retaining 52 papers. Reports on the natural distribution of E. laphygmae were restricted to the American tropics, ranging from North-East Mexico to Sao Paulo State, Brazil. There were only two single and unconfirmed records of it on other hosts, suggesting that the parasitoid may be specific to S. frugiperda, but this needs confirmation. In fields where E. laphygmae occurred naturally, it was the second most important contributor to fall armyworm mortality, after the braconid Chelonus insularis. On average, E. laphygmae parasitized 4.5% of fall armyworm in field studies. The highest parasitism rates were from Costa Rica (13%) and Minas Gerais, Brazil (14.5%). However, these parasitism rates are probably largely underestimated because of likely biases in sampling and parasitism rate calculations. Eiphosoma laphygmae appeared to establish better in more diverse, weedy systems. As African farming systems often have high diversity, this may favour the establishment and parasitism of E. laphygmae if eventually introduced as a classical biological control agent.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Siti Latifatus Siriyah ◽  
Miftakhul B.R. Khamid ◽  
Fawzy M Bayfurqon

Insects were collected from rice fields in Karawang West Java. Since insects are dominant in Rice field, their role in the ecosystem are important regarding the rice production. Therefore, the occurance of insect species and their role in ecosystem are important to understand. The aim of this reasearch was to study the insect occurance in rice field in Karawang to obtain the potential candidate for biological control agent. The insects were collected using sweep net, pit fall trap and light trap. Nine insect orders were collected and 49 morphospecies were identified including insect pest, parasitoids, predator, tourist and detritivore. Paederus sp., Cyrtohinus and Micraspis sp., were the most abundant entomophagous insect that is potential candidate for biological control agent in Karawang. Keywords: insect, insect diversity, rice fields, karawang


Author(s):  
Álvaro Rodríguez-González ◽  
Guzmán Carro-Huerga ◽  
Sara Mayo-Prieto ◽  
Alicia Lorenzana ◽  
Santiago Gutiérrez ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Manish Dhawan ◽  
Neelam Joshi ◽  
Samandeep Ghuman ◽  
Saroop Sandhu ◽  
Meenu Sharma

Intensive crop production and extensive use of harmful synthetic chemical pesticides create numerous socio-economic problems worldwide. Therefore, sustainable solutions are needed for insect pest control, such as biological control agents. The fungal insect pathogen Beauveria bassiana has shown considerable potential as a biological control agent against a broad range of insects. The insights into virulence mechanism of B. bassiana is essential to show the robustness of its use. B. bassiana has several determinants of virulence, including the production of cuticle-degrading enzymes (CDEs), such as proteases, chitinases, and lipases. CDEs are essential in the infection process as they hydrolyze the significant components of the insect's cuticle. Moreover, B. bassiana has evolved effective antioxidant mechanisms that include enzyme families that act as ROS scavengers, e.g., superoxide dismutases, catalases, peroxidases, and thioredoxins. In B. bassiana, the number of CDEs and antioxidant enzymes characterized in recent years. The enzymatic activities are crucial for the biological control potential and significantly advanced our understanding of the infection mechanism of B. bassiana. This review focuses on the progress detailed in the studies of these enzymes and provides an overview of enzymatic activities and their contributions to virulence.


EUGENIA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina L. Salaki

ABSTRACT   The research aimed to explore potential entomopathogenic bacteria as biological control agent for insect pest of P. xylostella and Spodoptera sp. in cabbage and broccoli. The indigenous bacteria were explored by taking 103 samples from location around North Sulawesi. Bacteria were selectively isolated by using Ohba and Aizawa method and then identified based on morphology. Subsequently the isolates were screened by their potency to kill test insect of P. xylostella and Spodoptera sp. The isolates were able to kill ≥ 50 % test insect considered  as potential for biological control. The potential isolates were then selected and would be developed  as powder and liquid bio-pesticide through large scale production. The result of the study showed that 145 Bacillus thuringiensis isolates and 202 Bacillus cereus isolates were obtained from 103 samples. The screening of the isolates based on standard test insect for cabbage and broccoli were in progress. The potential isolates would be further selected on the basis of their pathogenicity test. Based on pathogenecity test, chosen isolates will be developed as  bio-pasticide to control insect pest of cabbage and broccoli. Keywords : Exploration, entomopathogenic bacteria, biological control, Plutella xylostella, Spodoptera Sp.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Xuan Huang ◽  
Xiaoyu Quan ◽  
Xia Wang ◽  
Yueli Yun ◽  
Yu Peng

Spiders, as predators of insects and other invertebrates, are an important part of the natural enemies, and they are recognized as an important biological control agent. Plutellaxylostella (Linnaeus, 1758), the diamondback moth (DBM), is a well-known and destructive insect pest of brassicaceous crops worldwide. Here, we analyzed the functional responses of four spiders (Araneae) – Ebrechtellatricuspidata (Fabricius, 1775) (Thomisidae), Pardosalaura (Karsch, 1879) (Lycosidae), Pardosaastrigera (Koch, 1878) (Lycosidae), and Pardosapseudoannulata (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) (Lycosidae) – on P.xylostella larvae. We also analyzed intraspecific disturbances in the predation reaction and the intensity of scrambling competition of the spiders to P.xylostella larvae. Our results demonstrated that the functional responses of four spiders of different genera were in line with the Holling II model. Two Lycosidae spiders (P.astrigera and P.pseudoannulata) had the potential to control P.xylostella, and female and male spiders that belonged to the same species had different functional responses to P.xylostella. The functional responses of female predation of P.astrigena, P.laura, and P.pseudoannulata was stronger than the males, but male E.tricuspidatus had stronger functional responses to predation than females. We used the Hassell model to describe the intraspecific disturbance experiments of four spiders. There were intraspecific disturbances in the predation reactions of spiders, indicating that the predation ratio of spiders decreased in relation to the increase of its density, and with the increase of spider density, the intensity of scrambling competition of the spider increased.


2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Chaerani Chaerani ◽  
Y. Suryadi ◽  
T.P. Priyatno ◽  
D. Koswanudin ◽  
U. Rahmat ◽  
...  

Isolation of Entomopathogenic Nematodes Steinernema and Heterorhabditis. Entomopathogenic nematodes from the genus Steinernema and Heterorhabditis (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae) are promising biological control agent of insect pests. Indigenous nematodes have been isolated and collected for the use in local biological control program of important insect pests. The nematodes were isolated using soil baiting method with insect larvae. Laboratory tests have shown that the mealworm larvae Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) served as a good alternative to the standard insect bait, the greater wax moth larvae Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Galleriidae) for isolation and maintenance of nematodes. Both nematodes were successfully isolated using T. molitor larvae from 13% soil samples (26 out of a total of 207) collected from 14 locations in West and Central Java and Lampung provinces in the period of 1993 until 2006. Heterorhabditis (9%) was more prevalent than Steinernema (4%). Both nematodes were successfully propagated on mealworm larvae.


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