EVALUATION OF LOCALLY AVAILABLE SUBSTRATES FOR MASS MULTIPLICATION OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI, METARHIZIUM ANISOPLIAE (METCH.) SOROKIN

Abstract

Screening locally available substrates for mass multiplication of M. anisopliae such as, broken rice grains, broken maize, broken jowar, broken wheat, and broken ragi grains has showed that, broken rice followed by broken jowar served as the most productive media for conidial production of the fungus, with a yield of 3.45x108 and 3.2x108 spores per ml, respectively. The next best was broken maize (2.2x108 spores per ml), broken wheat(1.94x108 spores per ml), and broken ragi (1.8x108 spores per ml). Though the broken rice yielded highest spores, broken jowar recorded lowest production cost (8.6Ps/1x1010spores), which was followed by broken maize (5.6Ps/ 1x1010spores) proving that the broken jowar was the best substrate for mass multiplication of the fungus.