Mycopathogens for Biological Control of Odontotermes brunneus (Hagen)

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Authors

  • Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003 ,IN
  • Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003 ,IN
  • Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003 ,IN

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18311/jbc/1991/15268

Keywords:

Odontotermes brunneus, Mycopathogens, Bioassay.

Abstract

Among the entomopathogenic fungi tested against the termite, Odontotermes brunneus (Hagen), Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorokin var. anisopllae, M. flavoviride Gams Rozsypal var. minus, Paecilomyces lilacinus (Thom.) Samson and P. fumosoroseus (Wize) Brown & Smith, were pathogenic to termites, while the other three mycopathogens viz., Verticillium lecanil Zimm, Paecilomyces farinosus (Holm. ex Gray) and Nomuraea rileyi (Farlow) were not pathogenic. B. bassiana was the most effective against termites followed by M. anisopliae, M. flavoviride, P. lilacinus and P. fumosoroseus. Of the three morphogenetic forms of O. brunneas, workers minor were the most susceptible followed by workers major and soldier caste.

Further bioassay with the different fungal isolates of the two most virulent mycopathogens namely B. bassiana and M. anisopliae revealed that Bapatla isolate of B. bassiana was the most effective recording the lowest LC50 (2.64í—104 conidia ml-1) and LT50 (80.21 h).