Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10876846 | Fungal Ecology | 2013 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana sensu lato were isolated, from 7 and 41 % of soil samples from a commercial banana field, with average fungal density of 4.3 Ã 103 and 8.2 Ã 103 CFU gâ1 soil, respectively. Twenty-one morphologically distinct B. bassiana and four M. anisopliae sensu lato isolates from different plots within the field were further characterized. ISSR fingerprinting revealed six different clusters for B. bassiana, whereas gene sequencing revealed three M. anisopliae sensu stricto and one unclassified Metarhizium sp. Bioassays with one or more representative isolates from each Metarhizium species and B. bassiana cluster showed that all indigenous isolates had lower virulence and significantly greater ST50s than reference (exotic) isolates. The data suggest that the low virulence of most indigenous isolates toward Cosmopolites sordidus adults and their relatively low density in soil samples, may help explain the low occurrence of epizootics caused by entomopathogenic fungi in populations of this pest, also known to burrow under the soil surface in banana plantations.
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Authors
R.B. Lopes, A.L.M. Mesquita, M.S. Tigano, D.A. Souza, I. Martins, M. Faria,