AUTHOR(S)
Amlsha Mezgebe* and Ferdu Azerefegne

ABSTRACT

The herbivorous ladybirdbeetle, tef epilachna Chnootriba similisThunberg (Coleoptera Coccinellidae), is a serious pest of cereal crops in manyAfrican countries. In Ethiopia, it was reported as a pest of tef (Eragrostis tef (Zuccagni) Trotter(Poaceae) and caused severe damage to all cereal crops in the country. Thisstudy was designed to investigate the pathogenicity of different Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin(Ascomycota: Hypocreales) isolates (1x10⁸ conidia mL^-1concentration) against egg, larvae and adults of C. similis under laboratory and screen house conditions. Allisolates of B. bassiana showedpathogenicity in all life stages of C.similis. Among the tested isolates, PPRC-56 caused the highest mortality ineggs (76%), first instar larvae (36%), fourth instar larvae (57%) and adults(78%) of C. similis, 11, 6, 8 and16-days post treatments, respectively. The first and fourth instar larvae weremore susceptible than the eggs and adults of C. similis. Our study showed that all B. bassiana isolates were highly effective at killing all stages ofC. similis in both laboratory andscreen house conditions. The study suggests using the entomopathogenic fungus B. bassiana as a biocontrol agent tocontrol C. similis is veryimpressive.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.57182/jbiopestic.17.2.86-91

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