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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Southern Insect Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #369957
Research Project: Alternative Approaches to Tarnished Plant Bug Control

Location: Southern Insect Management Research

Title: NoVil: Hunt for weevil control: Update! Microbial and Nematode Control of Invertebrate Pest

Author
item MANIANIA, NGUYA - Crop Defenders Ltd
item Portilla, Maribel
item AMNULLA, FAYAZ - Crop Defenders Ltd
item DARIE, ANDREI - Crop Defenders Ltd
item GHIMAN, GEETIKA - Crop Defenders Ltd
item RAO, ISHTIAQ - Crop Defenders Ltd

Submitted to: IOBC/WPRS Bulletin (Abstract for Conference Proceedings)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2019
Publication Date: 5/4/2020
Citation: Maniania, N.K., Portilla, M., Amnulla, F.M., Darie, A., Ghiman, G., Rao, I.M. 2020. NoVil: Hunt for weevil control: Update! IOBC/WPRS Bulletin (Abstract for Conference Proceedings). 150:33-38.

Interpretive Summary: Entomopathogenic fungi are being considered as alternative to synthetic chemical insecticides for the control of adult pepper weevil and other arthropod pests. A few fungal isolates belonging to the genera Metarhizium, Beauveria and Isaria were screened against pepper weevil, green peach aphid, two-spoted apider mite, and tarnished plant bug. Under laboratory, Metarhizium robertsii isolate CPD6 outperformed the other isolates and was selected as potential mycoinsecticide candidate.

Technical Abstract: The virulence of Metarhizium robertsii isolate CPD6 against pepper weevil, Anthonomus eugenii and cranberry weevil, Anthonomus musculus, has been reported and the isolate is being developed as mycoinsecticide under the trade name of NoVil. In addition to these two insects, NoVil has been found to be pathogenic against other arthropods that are pests of greenhouse pepper (Capsicum spp.). In bioassays, NoVil caused mortality of 97.0 ± 3.0% of adult tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineoralis, 4 days post-inoculation at the concentration of 108 conidia mL-1. Spray applications of NoVil in the greenhouse resulted in reduction over the control of 87.6% of green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, on pepper plants and 80.8% of two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, on cucumber plants. Preliminary results seem also to indicate that NoVil is compatible with other biocontrol agents and could play an important role as a component of integrated pest management (IPM) of pepper crop.