Extractos crudos producidos por fermentación de hongos entomopatógenos para el control de macrodactylus infuscatus bates (coleoptera: melolonthidae): una alternativa hacia la sustentabilidad

Urban Farm DB summary

To identify control alternatives for Macrodactylus pests in urban agriculture zones, this study evaluated the biopesticide action of enzymatic extracts from the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana, Isaria fumosorosea, and Metarhizium anisopliae against Macrodactylus infuscatus, an insect of economic importance. The fermentative extracts showed chitinolytic and proteolytic activity that degraded the insect cuticle and caused mortality. After 12 days, survival was lowest with I. fumosorosea extract (20%), followed by B. bassiana (25%) and M. anisopliae (38%), versus 48% in the control. With transformed data, I. fumosorosea again showed the lowest survival (10%), followed by B. bassiana (18%) and M. anisopliae with the highest survival (31%) (p 0.0026). Mean time to death was shortest for I. fumosorosea (5 days), followed by B. bassiana (7 days) and M. anisopliae (9.5 days), all significantly different from the control (p 0.05). This is described as the first study applying these biological control agents to M. infuscatus; treated insects showed decreased food consumption and mobility, apparently due to fungal metabolite effects.