Virulence of indigenous isolates of white muscardine fungus, Beauveria bassiana on diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella under laboratory conditions
Nithya PR, Manimegalai S, Nakkeeran S, Mohankumar S and Jayarajan Nelson S
Diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) is the most serious pest of crucifers, difficult to be managed using a single tactic. Entomopathogenic fungi, being an important component of IPM has been employed for managing this key pest. In the present investigation, two indigenous isolates of Beauveria bassiana were evaluated against second instar larvae of P. xylostella reared under controlled conditions. Bioassay was carried out by leaf dip method with concentrations ranging from 1 x 105 to 1 x 109 conidia/ml. Results of bioassay revealed that among the two isolates of B. bassiana, isolate TM MH590235 registered lowest values of LC50 (2.4 x 107 conidia/ml) and LT50 (3.62 days) compared to the isolate, BR MK918495 and thus can be employed for managing P. xylostella after formulation development and field evaluation.
Nithya PR, Manimegalai S, Nakkeeran S, Mohankumar S, Jayarajan Nelson S. Virulence of indigenous isolates of white muscardine fungus, Beauveria bassiana on diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella under laboratory conditions. J Entomol Zool Stud 2019;7(5):1115-1118.