Variability of Lecanicillium spp. Mycoparasite of Coffee Leaf Rust Pathogen (Hemileia vastatrix) in Indonesia

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Coffee leaf rust disease caused by <i>Hemileia vastatrix</i> resulted in high yield loss and difficult to control. Several chemical fungicides have been used to control this disease. However, the effectiveness of chemical control is low, so it is necessary to find other methods such as biological control. <i>Lecanicillium</i> spp. is well-known as mycoparasite on <i>H. vastatrix</i> uredospores but the study in Indonesia is still limited. This study aimed to collect and investigated the genetic variability of <i>Lecanicillium</i> spp. at various coffee plantations in Indonesia. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Samples of <i>Lecanicillium </i>spp. were collected from 20 districts in 7 provinces throughout Indonesia. Morphology of colony and conidia were identified by visual examination and by viewed under the light microscope. Genetic variability was conducted using Rep-PCR and clustered with UPGMA. <b>Results:</b> Morphological observation in this study revealed all isolates collected from uredospores of <i>H. vastatrix</i> were similar with <i>Lecanicillium </i>spp. Genetic variability analysis clustered the 80 isolates into eight clusters with their specific characters. <b>Conclusion:</b> Morphological identification in this study showed that 80 isolates of mycoparasite on <i>H. vastatrix</i> belong to <i>Lecanicillium</i> spp. Further study using the molecular technique is needed to identity the species of <i>Lecanicillium</i>.