Bioactivity of Trichoderma (6-Pentyl α-pyrone)against Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Abstract

Several Trichoderma speciesare used as biocontrol agents due to their high potentiality to produce a widearray of bioactive secondary metabolites; (some of these metabolites are lowmolecular weight volatiles). Trichoderma asperellum was isolated fromthe rhizosphere of Zea mays at Ismailia, which showed high antifungal andnematoicidal activity from our preliminary experiments. Bioactivity of T. asperellumagainst mite Tetranychus urticae koch was tested. Data showed that highmortality was observed after exposure time (48 hrs.) and reached 100%. Themajor volatile compound emitted from T. asperellum was identified to be6-pentyl- α-pyrone (6PP), with rate 450 ng/µl. This high level of 6PP motivatedus to apply different concentrations of pure compound (0.125, 0.25, 0.50 and1mM of 6PP (sigma) to find out their effect