Pathogenicity of entomopathogenic fungi against white grub, Leucopholis lepidophora (Blanchard) infesting sugarcane under pot culture experiment

Abstract

The pathogenicity of entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorokin,\rBeauveria brongniartii (Sacc.) and Beauveria bassiana (Balsana) Vuillrmin, was done against\rwhite grub, Leucopholis lepidophora (Blanchard) infesting sugarcane under pot culture\rexperiment. In this investigation the virulence of different entomopathogenic fungi were\rdetermined by FYM enriched techniques against third instar grubs of Leucopholis lepidophora\r(Blanch.).An overall concentration range of 2x104-2x108 conidia ml-1of entomopathogenic fungi\rwere used but among these, 2x108 conidia ml-1 concentration was the most promising for highest\rgrub mortality in each entomopathogenic fungi. M. anisopliae was found to be most effective\rfungus as compared to other fungi. It was observed that 34.49-62.07 per cent grub mortality\roccurred on 45 DAT in M. anisopliae at different conidial concentrations. B. brongniartii\rrecorded 31.03 to 58.62 per cent grub mortality while, B. bassiana caused 27.59 to 55.18 per\rcent grub mortality at different conidial concentration. The results showed that M. anisopliae\rwas found to be more pathogenic than B. brongniartii and B. bassiana.