Influence of Humidity and Greenhouse Microclimate on the Efficacy of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) for Control of Greenhouse Arthropod Pests

By J. L. Shipp, Y. Zhang, D. Hunt, G. Ferguson. 2003

139 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract This study investigated the influence of different humidity levels on percentage of infection by Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Hyphomycetes) (Botanigard Emulsifiable Suspension formulation) on greenhouse insect and mite pests, and their commercially available biological control agents. The target insect and mite species were sprayed with B. bassiana and evaluated in petri dish trials under controlled environment conditions, on cucumber leaves under greenhouse crop conditions, and under fully sprayed greenhouse conditions. Results of this study showed that in petri dish trials, a humidity of 97.5% RH resulted in significantly higher percentage of infection (60–88.8%), while at 75 and 80% RH only 15.3–43.9% of the pest insects were infected. On leaf surfaces, the differences in ambient humidity did not cause as great of variations in percentage of infection as in the petri dish trials. Increasing greenhouse humidity by 15% RH caused an increase of 17–25% in percentage of infection. Under high humidity conditions, whole greenhouse sprays with B. bassiana successfully suppressed populations of Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood). Tetranychus urticae Koch was not infected by B. bassiana at significant levels in any of the trials. Predatory mites can be used with B. bassiana, while adult Orius insidiosus (Say), Aphidius colemani Viereck, and Dacnusa sibirica Telenga are not recommended to be introduced during the application of B. bassiana. Encarsia formosa Gahan, Eretmocerus eremicus (Rose and Zolnerowich), and Aphidoletes aphidimyza (Rondani) need to be used with caution when B. bassiana is applied.

Subfields: Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b2ce3c6556d612fb2ba4455471594fb08ad813b3

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In Insect Science

1. S. Jaronski
2. Yu-lin Gao
3. Z. Lei
4. S. Reitz
5. G. Zimmermann
6. R. Cloyd
7. M. Brownbridge

Citations in the corpus

• Ecological factors in the inundative use of fungal entomopathogens (2010, background): “For example, Shipp et al. (2003) observed that ambient humidity had little effect on B. bassiana activity against aphids, thrips and whiteflies on cucumber leaves under greenhouse conditions.”
• Review on safety of the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana and Beauveria brongniartii (2007, methodology): “There is a huge number of publications dealing with the mode of action and the infection process. The first publications dealing with the infection of certain pest insects by B. bassiana , such as the silkworm, were compiled by Steinhaus (1949) and Müller-Kögler (1965).”
• Thrips: Pests of Concern to China and the United States (2011, background): “As an ancillary benefit, these conditions also favor infectivity of fungal pathogens, which can be effective biological controls against thrips (Shipp et al. 2003).”
• Western Flower Thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) Management on Ornamental Crops Grown in Greenhouses: Have We Reached an Impasse? (2009, background): “For example, a relative humidity of 97.5% resulted in only 60% infection of adults and 43.9% infection of nymphs (Shipp et al. 2003).”