Effect of inoculation method and plant growth medium on endophytic colonization of sorghum by the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana

By T. Tefera, S. Vidal. BioControl (Dordrecht), 2009

246 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A study was conducted to determine the effect of inoculation method and plant growth medium on colonization of sorghum by an endophytic Beauveria bassiana. Colonization of leaves, stems, and roots by B. bassiana was assessed 20-days after application of the fungus. Although B. bassiana established as an endophyte in sorghum leaves, stems, and roots regardless of inoculation method (leaf, seed, or soil inoculation), plant growth medium (sterile soil, non-sterile soil, or vermiculite) apparently influenced colonization rates. Seed inoculation with conidia caused no stem or leaf colonization by the fungus in non-sterile soil but did result in substantial endophytic colonization in vermiculite and sterile soil. Leaf inoculation did not result in root colonization, regardless of plant growth medium. Endophytic colonization was greater in leaves and stems than roots. Endophytic colonization by B. bassiana had no adverse effects on the growth of sorghum plants. Leaf inoculation with a conidial suspension proved to be the best method to introduce B. bassiana into sorghum leaves for plants growing in either sterile or non-sterile soil. Further research should focus on the virulence of endophytic B. bassiana against sorghum stem borers.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c1316074778c897f98035d2bc01a04f9806b20d8

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Citations in the corpus

Effects of three endophytic entomopathogens on sweet sorghum and on the larvae of the stalk borer Sesamia nonagrioides (2015, methodology): “Spraying with a conidial suspension of B. bassiana proved to be the best method to introduce the fungus into sorghum leaves (Tefera & Vidal, 2009).”
Endophytic colonisation of squash by the fungal entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) for managing Zucchini yellow mosaic virus in cucurbits (2014, methodology): “All B. bassiana strains used in this study have been shown to behave as endophytes in various plants in previous studies (Jaber, Stahlmann, Tefera, & Vidal, 2010; Quesada-Moraga et al., 2006; Quesada-Moraga et al., 2009; Tefera & Vidal, 2009).”
Endophytic colonisation of tobacco, corn, wheat and soybeans by the fungal entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota, Hypocreales) (2015, background): “; Ownley et al., 2004), banana (Musa paradisiaca L.; Akello et al., 2007), coffee (Coffea arabica L.; Posada & Vega, 2006; Posada et al., 2007) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor Kuntze; Reddy, Ali Khan, Devi, Sharma, & Reineke, 2009; Tefera & Vidal, 2009) following artificial inoculation.”
Endophytic Entomopathogenic Fungi: A Valuable Biological Control Tool against Plant Pests (2020, methodology): “However, there have been reports where inoculation through the seed resulted in some or no colonization of the stem or leaf [77,81].”
Can we use entomopathogenic fungi as endophytes for dual biological control of insect pests and plant pathogens (2018, background): “…optimal for enhancing colonization levels, suppressing insect and pathogen pests and providing plant growth promotion benefits (e.g., Posada et al., 2007; Akello et al., 2009; Tefera and Vidal, 2009; Garcia et al., 2011; Muvea et al., 2014; Russo et al., 2015; Jaber and Enkerli, 2016, 2017).”
Fungal entomopathogens as endophytes: can they promote plant growth? (2017, background): “…may be pivotal for the plant growth promotion effect mediated by these fungi, and the level of growth promotion may vary depending on the extent of plant colonisation with entomopathogenic fungi which is known to vary according to the inoculation method (Posada et al., 2007; Tefera & Vidal, 2009).”
Endophytic fungal entomopathogens with activity against plant pathogens: ecology and evolution (2010, background): “…variables should be measured in all studies dealing with the introduction of fungal entomopathogens as possible endophytes, as was recently done by Tefera and Vidal (2009) for sorghum plants inoculated with B. bassiana, although it will be difficult to elucidate the role of a specific endophyte…”