Journal of Environmental Biology

Characterization and biocontrol potential of

entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana isolates

against Spilarctia obliqua

B.P. Bhadauria¹*, P.K. Singh², Shailesh Pandey³?N.W. Zaidi⁴?and U.S. Singh⁴

¹Department of Plant Pathology, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263 145, India

²Department of Entomology, RBS College, Bichpuri, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Agra-283 105, India

??? ³Department of Forest Protection, Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat-785 001, India

⁴NASC Complex, IRRI Office, New Delhi-110 012, India

*Corresponding Author email : bpbhadauria@rediffmail.com

Publication Data

Paper received:

20 April 2012

Revised received:

29 September 2012

Accepted:

20 October 2012

Abstract

Beauveria bassiana is a known natural enemy of a number of insect pests of crop plants. In order to screen different isolates of any given entomopathogens molecular markers provide a means for constructing the molecular phylogeny, diversity and link to virulent phenotypes. Eight isolates of B. bassiana isolated from different insect hosts and from different location at Pantnagar (Uttrakhand) were characterized by PCR-based RAPD markers. Bioassays were conducted by using first, second and third instar larvae of Spilarctia obliqua in order to categorize the isolates based on virulence. The isolates were arbitrarily rated as more virulent, moderately virulent and less virulent based on the speed of killing. A wide range of variation in virulence was observed and the isolates of same insect origin and location showed differences in their aggressiveness. No correlation was found between the pathogenicity of the isolates and the relatedness of the original insect host. The pathogenicity against first, second and third instar larva of Spilarctia obliqua did not reveal any relatedness with the clustering pattern.

Key words

Beauveria bassiana, Biocontrol, DNA fingerprinting, Spilarctia obliqua, RAPD-PCR

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