Horizontal Transmission of the Entomopathogen Fungus Metarhizium anisopliae in Microcerotermes diversus Groups

Insects

Amir Cheraghi¹  Behzad Habibpour¹  Mohammad Saied Mossadegh¹ 

[1] Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz 61357-831351, Iran; E-Mails:

关键词: termites;    vector;    recipient;    biological control;   

DOI  :  10.3390/insects3030709

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

An experiment was carried out in order to investigate fungal conidia transmission of Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin from vector (donor) to healthy Microcerotermes diversus Silvestri (Iso.: Termitidae) and determine the best donor/concentration ratio for transmission. After preliminary trials, concentrations of 3.1 × 10⁴, 3.9 × 10⁵, 3.2 × 10⁶ and 3.5 × 10⁸ conidia mL⁻¹ were selected for testing. The experiment was performed at three donor : Recipient ratios of 10, 30 and 50%. The highest mortality of recipient workers was observed after 14 days at the concentration of 3.5 × 10⁸ conidia mL⁻¹ and donor ratio of 50%. The mortality of recipient workers was less than 20% at all concentrations at a donor ratio of 10%. Our observations indicate social behavior of M. diversus, such as grooming, can be effective in promoting epizootic outbreaks in a colony. While the current results suggest good potential for efficacy, the use of M. anisopliae as a component of integrated pest management of M. diversus still needs to be proven under field conditions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.