Biological activities of spores and metabolites of some fungal isolates on certain aspects of the spiny bollworms Earias insulana (Boisd.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract

Biological activities of spores and metabolites of some fungi isolated from dead larva of the spiny bollworms (SBW), Earias insulana (Boisd.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), against the newly hatched larvae of the pest were carried out. Results showed that the fungi Metarhizium anisopliae, Acremonium sp., and Paecilomyces variotii had affected the newly hatched larvae of (SBW). Acremonium sp. was the most potent one as it had the highest newly hatched larval mortality percentage (65 and 58.33%) for its spore suspension and metabolites, respectively, while the lowest one (41%) was for P. variotii metabolites. Also, spore suspensions of the all fungal isolates had the highest larval mortality than fungal metabolites. Studying the enzymatic activity showed that Acremonium sp. produced protease enzyme on media containing gelatin, which caused the highest larval mortality (72.22%). These isolates showed different effects on all stages of the pest and decreased pupal weight, adult emergence percentages, deposited eggs, and hatchability percentages than the control. Identification of Acremonium sp. EZ1 was confirmed using 18 s rRNA and its accession number MN25101.