Effect of different Fungicides on Growth of Beauveria Bassiana
Abstract
Beauveria bassiana is an entomopathogenic fungus that grows naturally in soils throughout the world,which acts as a pathogen with significant host range and host specificity. Use of chemical products to protect plants and other environmental factors affects the conidial survival of beauveria bassiana fungus. This research paper mentions the compatibility of beauveria bassiana with fungicides such as Chloramphenicol, Tetracycline, Amoxicillin, Gentamicin, Mancozeb + Metalaxyl, Fluconazol. A positive result was obtained for Fluconazole, Mancozeb+Metalaxyl, Dithane (Amoxicillin + Streptomycin + Tetracycline + Chloramphenicol + Mancozeb).
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Introduction
The entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana functions as an effective control agent against many pests.Beauveria bassiana plays a key role in causing disease in arthropod populations.
Availability of adequate moisture and temperature helps Beauveria bassiana in acting as an important mortality factor of arthropod pests. Various commercial products are developed using this fungus due it’scapability to control pests. Beauveria bassiana possesses all the attributes of an effective mycoinsecticide, i.e. high virulence, broad host range, flexibility of fungi to mass production and formulation and storage and product stability. Diversity and abundance of natural enemies in the soil such as Beauveria bassiana is affected due to man activities such as frequency and type of pesticide application .Although, abundant of bio-control agents has been introduced in the market need for chemical pesticides remains. Frequent use of chemical pesticides resulted in tremendous decline of population of entomopathogenic fungi in the soil. Furthermore, it affected their efficiency in pest regulation. Conidial survival of Beauveria bassiana gets affected due to environmental factors or due to use of chemicals such as fungicides and biopesticides used to control plant pests. When the fungus comes in contact with pesticides or herbicides, its efficacy gets either antagonized or synergized. Similarly, the insecticidal property of Beauveria bassiana also gets affected with a disruption of its natural epizootics. The effect of pesticides such as fungicides on Beauveria bassiana fungus was discovered after carrying out many experiments. Inhibition of Beauveria bassiana by many fungicides was indicated in various in vitro studies.
Conclusion
The Use of biological control agents such as entomopathogenic fungi (EPS) can be used as a component of integrated pest management (IPM) of many pests. Several fungal species such as Beauveria bassiana are being used as biocontrol agents for a number of crops, livestock and human nuisance pests. Hence it is very important to ensure availability of these bioagents in the soil by avoiding the use of fungicides and other pesticides that inhibit their growth. In this research paper we have discussed how affect of fungicides on Beauveria bassiana varies depending on the type of fungicide and the result helped in determining which fungicides should be used to ensure the survival and growth of beauveria bassiana in the soil. Instead of using fungicides such as fluconazole and mancozeb+metalaxyl, which shows high rate of inhibition of growth of Beauveria bassiana, fungicides such as gentamicin that shows minimum rate of inhibition should be used. Fungicides that inhibit growth of Beauveria bassiana such as fluconazole and mancozeb+metalaxyl, when applied in the soil, reduces the population of beneficial Beauveria bassiana that are naturally available in the soil and results in increased dependency on chemical pesticides for controlling pests. Use of fungicides like gentamicin helps in conserving the population of Beauveria bassiana in the soil, which acts as a natural biocontrol agent.