Nisreen Alsaoud*(1) Doummar Nammour(1) and Ali Yaseen Ali(2)
(1). Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Albaath University, Homs, Syria,
(2). Tarsus Research Center, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Eng. Nisreen Alsaoud. E. mail nisreensoud@gmail.com).
Received: 16/07/2017 Accepted: 01/10/2017
Abstract
The efficacy of three native isolates of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota: Hypocreales), with concentration of 1×107 spore/ml, were tested on potato tuber moth Phthorimaea operculella (Gelechiidae:Lepidoptera) under non-refrigerated storage conditions (28̊±2 C and R.H=50%± 5). The results showed the efficiency of the three isolates in the studied concentration to control the pest in store. These isolates showed superiority on control, where infection rates of tubers were 67, 83, 87.9, 100% for isolates C, D, B and control respectively, and reduced the severity of infection to 50.7, 63.2, 70.8, and 99.2% for isolates C, B, D and control respectively. The averages of emerged adults were 25, 15, 6.3, and 44.3 adults for isolates C, B, C and control respectively. Results showed that the fungus B. bassiana is an important control agent in integrated pest management for potato tuber moth in non-refrigerated stores.
Key words: Potato tuber moth, Beauveria bassiana, Phthorimaea operculella, Biological control.
Full paper in Arabic: PDF