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Compatibility of the insect pathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana with neem against sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci , on eggplant
Author(s) -
Islam Md. Touhidul,
Castle Steven J.,
Ren Shunxiang
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2009.00933.x
Subject(s) - beauveria bassiana , bassiana , biology , whitefly , entomopathogenic fungus , nymph , horticulture , conidium , azadirachtin , biological pest control , neem oil , hypocreales , pest analysis , botany , agronomy , pesticide , ascomycota , biochemistry , gene
A study on the compatibility of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) with neem was conducted against sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), on eggplant. Initially, three concentrations of B. bassiana (10 6 , 10 7 , and 10 8 conidia ml −1 ) and three concentrations of neem (0.25, 0.5, and 1.0%) were used as individual treatments against B. tabaci . The highest concentration of B. bassiana yielded the highest B. tabaci egg (25.2%) and nymph mortalities (73.0%), but this was not significantly different from the mortalities caused by the 10 7 conidia ml −1 suspension. Similarly, the highest concentration of neem yielded the highest egg (27.3%) and nymph mortalities (75.5%), which was also not significantly different from the 0.5% suspension. Therefore, 0.5% neem was used along with 10 7 B. bassiana conidia ml −1 suspension as an integrated pest management program against B. tabaci . The combination of B. bassiana and neem yielded the highest B. tabaci egg (29.5%) and nymph mortalities (97.2%), and the lowest LT 50 (2.08 day) value. Moreover, an integrated combination of B. bassiana with neem caused 27.6 and 20.5% more nymphal mortality than individual treatments of B. bassiana and neem, respectively, 7 days post‐application. Thus, a combined application of an entomopathogenic fungus and a botanical insecticide may benefit from both, and it has proven effective for the control of B. tabaci on eggplant.