African Journal of
Microbiology Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Microbiol. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0808
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJMR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 5238

Full Length Research Paper

The integrated use of entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana with botanical insecticide, neem against Bemisia tabaci on eggplant

  Md. Touhidul Islam1*, Dzolkhifli Omar1, M. A. Latif2 and Md. Mahbub Morshed1  
  1Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. 2Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 23 August 2011
  •  Published: 09 October 2011

Abstract

 

In a previous experiment, sweetpotato whitefly was found to be difficult to control with either neem or Beauveria bassiana alone. This earlier research also reported that the combined application of neem and B. bassiana increased mortality of whitefly nymphs when both of these products were applied to eggplant foliage; but a higher concentration of neem (more than 0.5%) was slightly toxic for young eggplant. Therefore, the present research was undertaken with these two products in which neem was applied as soil drench and B. bassiana was applied to foliage. Three concentrations of neem- 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0%; and three concentrations of B. bassiana- 106, 107 and 10conidia/ml were used to investigate the combined efficacy against sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. The results demonstrate that maximum nymph mortality (92.3%) occurred when 1.0% neem was combined with 10conidia/ml of B. bassiana. The highest (14.3) mortality ratio (N/Bb; mortality caused by neem/mortality caused by B. bassiana) occurred when 1.0% neem was combined with 10conidia/ml of B. bassiana; and the lowest mortality ratio (5.7) occurred when 0.25% neem was combined with 10conidia/ml of B. bassiana. The results showed that neem was compatible with B. bassiana; and suggest that soil application of neem along with foliar application of B. bassiana might be useful for the control of B. tabaci.     

 

Key words: Botanical insecticide, compatibility, eggplant, entomopathogenic fungus, integrated pest management (IPM).