Virulence of Beauveria sp. and Metarhizium sp. fungi towards fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda)

Beatrice Apirajkamol*, Timothy Michael Hogarty, Bishwo Mainali, Phillip Warren Taylor, Thomas Kieran Walsh, Wee Tek Tay

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
58 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The development of effective pest management strategies for Spodoptera frugiperda is a high priority for crop protection across its invasive ranges. Here, we examined six Beauveria and five Metarhizium fungal isolates against this pest. Two Beauveria isolates (B-0571, B-1311) induced high mortality toward 3rd and 6th instar caterpillars and adults. For B-0571 mortality was 82.81 ± 5.75%, 61.46 ± 6.83%, and 93.75 ± 3.61%, and 73.72 ± 2.51%, 71.88 ± 5.41%, and 97.92 ± 2.08% for B-1311, with deaths in caterpillars largely occurring under 24 h (3rd instar control 0.74 ± 0.33%, B-0571 73.96 ± 7.85% and B-1311 62.08 ± 3.67%; 6th instar control 0%, B-0571 66.67% ± 11.02% and B-1311 62.5% ± 9.55%). Infection from both Beauveria isolates fully prevented reproduction in surviving S. frugiperda females. In contrast, all five Metarhizium isolates tested and the remaining four Beauveria isolates exhibited lower virulence. The discovery of two highly virulent Beauveria fungal isolates to S. frugiperda opens avenues to develop novel biological control tools against this highly invasive pest.
Original languageEnglish
Article number328
Pages (from-to)1-21
Number of pages21
JournalArchives of Microbiology
Volume205
Issue number10
Early online date7 Sept 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright Crown 2023. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • Entomopathogenic fungi
  • Agricultural pest
  • Biocontrol
  • Sustainable pest management
  • Bioassay

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