The infection efficacy of Metarhizium strains (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) against the Queensland fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni (Diptera: Tephritidae)

McGuire, Amy V., Edwards, William, and Northfield, Tobin D. (2023) The infection efficacy of Metarhizium strains (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) against the Queensland fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni (Diptera: Tephritidae). Journal of Economic Entomology, 116 (2). pp. 627-631.

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Abstract

The Queensland fruit fly (Qfly), Bactrocera tryoni Froggatt, is a devastating pest of Australia's commercial fruit systems. Fruit fly mitigation is heavily centered around the use chemical insecticides, with limited investigation into microbial control alternatives. The wet tropics of northern Queensland is a highly biodiverse ecosystem containing many species of insect pathogenic fungi, but it is unclear whether any of these entomopathogens could contribute to Qfly management programs. In laboratory trials, we investigated the potential for Qfly microbial control by 3 locally sourced strains of entomopathogenic fungi comprising 2 species, Metarhizium guizhouense (Chen and Guo) and Metarhizium lepidiotae (Driver and Milner). Additionally, we evaluated 2 different inoculation methods to derive the most effective way to expose the flies to conidia-either through dry conidia or in a conidial suspension. All 3 strains were successful in causing Qfly mortality. Metarhizium lepidiotae resulted in the highest mean mortality over the trials, while M. guizhouense resulted in the highest mortality in a single replicate. Laboratory experiments revealed exposure through dry conidia to be the most effective method to inoculate the flies. These results suggest that fungal entomopathogens could be a viable pathway to Qfly suppression.

Item ID: 78954
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1938-291X
Keywords: Metarhizium, biological control, fruit fly, pest
Copyright Information: © The Author(s) 2023. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2023 00:25
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310913 Invertebrate biology @ 50%
31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3107 Microbiology > 310705 Mycology @ 50%
SEO Codes: 26 PLANT PRODUCTION AND PLANT PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 2605 Horticultural crops > 260599 Horticultural crops not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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