Pathogenicity of <i>Beauveria bassiana</i> to Life Stages of Lepidopteran Pests

The experiment focused on the effect of Beauveria bassiana, on the survival of insect-pest Pieris brassicae, P. xylostella, S. frugiperda and H. armigera larvae and pupae in vitro. Four different concentrations (106, 107, 108, 109 conidia/ ml) of conidial suspension used on L3 larvae. Statistical analysis produced varying degrees of larval mortality which exhibited a clear dose-dependency. Especially the high-end concentrations of 108 and 109 conidia/ ml of the fungi were very pathogenic, with larval mortality ranging between 87 and 100% at seven days. The results on the effects on lepidopteran pupae showed the decrease in adult emergence and some abnormal and deformed adults emerged out of treated puparium. The present study adds to the direction of incorporating entomopathogenic fungi in the toolbox of biological pest control.