V. Padmaja ¹, Gurvinder Kaur ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Botany, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530003, IN

Abstract

Pathogenicity of Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill isolates to the brinjal spotted beetle, Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata (Fabricius) has been recorded for the first time. Virulence of the isolates was assessed at different developmental stages of the beetle from laboratory bioassay experiments. Pathogenic strains showing rapid germination and profuse sporulation were found to be more virulent to the pest. LT₅₀ values of the second instar larvae ranged from 1.33 to 4.8 days in the different isolates. Larval stages appeared to be more susceptible than prepupal and adult stages. Field performance of the pathogen tested by applying the mass multiplied inoculum to the infested brinjal plants revealed persistence of the biocontrol agent in the soil for 30 days.

Keywords

Beauveria bassiana, Field Application, Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata, Persistence, Virulence.

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