Bioefficacy of Different Species of Entomopathogenic Fungi Against White Grub, Leucopholis lepidophora (Blanchard) Infesting Sugarcane in Maharashtra

The bioefficacy of three species of entomopathogenic fungi viz., Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorokin, Beauveria brongniartii (Sacc.) and Beauveria bassiana (Balsana) Vuillrmin, against white grub, Leucopholis lepidophora (Blanchard) infesting sugarcane crop was studied under laboratory conditions. In this bioassay Metarhizium anisopliae fungus caused higher rate of grub mortality at an overall concentration range of 4×10⁵ to 2×10⁶ conidia ml^-1 as compared to Beauveria brongniartii and Beauveria bassiana The treatments with Metarhizium anisopliae fungus was found to be most effective and recorded 34.48-58.62 per cent grub mortality on 15 DAT at different conidial concentrations. The fungi Beauveria brongniartii recorded 31.03-55.18 per cent grub mortality, while as in case of fungi Beauveria bassiana 24.14-51.72 per cent grub mortality was observed on 15 DAT at different conidial concentrations. The estimated LC₅₀ values for M. anisopliae, B. brongniartii and B. bassiana towards third instar grubs of Leucopholis lepidophora Blanch. Were 9.05×10⁵,10.44×10⁵ and 11.78×10⁵ conidia ml^-1, respectively.