Pathogenicity of three entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana, and Paecilomyces lilacinus, to Tetranychus kanzawai infesting papaya seedlings

Abstract

Tetranychus kanzawai is an economically important polyphagous mite species in East and South Asia. In the Philippines, it commonly infests cassava and papaya plants. The mites attack and severely damage the older leaves of papaya trees as well as seedlings. Its serious damage causes the leaves to dry up, thus, reducing the photosynthetic activity of the plant. Three entomopathogenic fungal isolates were tested on mites under greenhouse conditions using treated papaya seedlings following a completely randomized design. The mites tested were examined under a dissecting scope to determine the causal agent and to confirm mortality. The LT50 of Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana and Paecilomyces lilacinus on T. kanzawai were estimated. Our results indicate that among these entomopathogenic fungi, the Metarhizium anisopliae Ma6 isolate (LT50= 3.00 days) has potentiality for the control of T. kanzawai.

Keywords

• Tetranychus kanzawai
• greenhouse
• entomopathogenic fungi
• papaya seedlings
• Metarhizium anisopliae
• Beauveria bassiana