author(s)
Dr. Greeshma Rao UB and Dr. BW Narladkar

abstract
The research was conducted to evaluate the pathogenicity and compare the potency of old and new conidia of entomopathogenic fungus Verticillium lecanii against the egg and adult stages of the cattle tick, Rhipicephalus (B.) microplus. The fungal powder procured in the year 2012 and 2016 was used in the research to compare their efficacy against various developmental stages of R. microplus ticks. The ticks and eggs were treated with fungi at concentrations 1g×10⁸ conidia/litre, 2×10⁸ conidia/litre 3g×10⁸ conidia/litre, 5g×10⁸ conidia/litre, 6g×10⁸ conidia/litre. Both fungal treatments (old and new) showed at par results in terms of mortality of adult ticks, reduction in egg laying capacity and hatchability of the treated eggs in comparison with the control. The highest mortality was recorded at the concentration 5g×10⁸ conidia/litre. The hatching rates by the treated groups were inversely proportional to the concentration of conidia used. An in-vivo trial carried out suggested that fungi had a good tickicidal and ovicidal property might constitute an additional method for integrated tick management.